


define the space between them

by aizensosuke



Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Introspection, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-20 15:38:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17625101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aizensosuke/pseuds/aizensosuke
Summary: in which inoue orihime falls in love more times than she planned for, worries too much about questions already long answered, and anticipates an ending that will leave her broken and hollow without consideration for an ending that leaves her fulfilled.





	1. opposites

“You have been talking about this nonstop for the past three weeks, Orihime.” Though Ulquiorra is taking great pains to make his voice as soft and gentle as possible, the expression on his face says it all: he’s annoyed, not that she can blame him. “If you are not going to say anything to her about it, then why are you still talking about it to me?”

The question has Orihime pausing where she sits, her tablet perched on her lap with the page of an ebook she has been staring at for the past fifteen minutes without taking in any of the words. When she first met Ulquiorra, she had been new to the city, needed somewhere to stay, and took solace in the fact that when he answered the door, his boyfriend was hovering in the space just behind him,  _ towering _ over him. It made her think she might have finally found a safe space to spend a few years of her life.

She and Ulquiorra, they got along. They almost never argued because few things truly bothered Ulquiorra enough to bring up in conversation and Orihime did her best to be a good roommate. They cleaned up after themselves, ate dinner together on nights they were both in the apartment, and tag teamed on  _ Overwatch _ to the horrified and petulant screaming of their circle of friends. When Yammy came over, Orihime made herself scarce or pulled up a podcast at full volume knowing full well that the man never left without making a lasting impression, or he just stayed the night.

They were cute together, she loved them together, but  _ God, _ for such a soft-spoken man, Ulquiorra could be loud when it counted. It was probably an ego thing on Yammy’s part, not that Orihime ever wanted to venture into that kind of territory to ask.

Besides, for the last few months, she had been able to pay them back for it. Though her girlfriend usually prefers to take her out somewhere, restless and not even close to a homebody, Nelliel was happy to spend the night and happier still to work Orihime up to breathy, helplessly loud moans that no amount of muffling could properly silence.

“I don’t know. I’m afraid to say something to her about it. What if I’m just blowing things out of proportion?” She fiddles with the charge port of her tablet and then makes herself stop before she jiggles the cord so much she breaks the port altogether.

Ulquiorra hums thoughtfully, fingers curling in the long ends of his black hair. She’d lived with him for a while now and it only seemed to be getting longer. “I don’t think Nel is going to be upset with you if you bring this up to her. She’s likely just to reassure you, as she has been every time it’s come up in conversation within my earshot. I don’t eavesdrop.”

“I know.” Orihime sighs and presses her hands to her face, giving her head a small shake. “I’ve even  _ talked _ to them. I mean, just online, but I had that one video chat with Apacci, and she was… She’s  _ really _ handsome, have I told you that? She is  _ really _ —”

“You have told me. So what do you have to be afraid of?” Ulquiorra asks her.

Orihime sighs, locks her tablet, and sets it on the arm of her chair. “What if we get there, and it turns out that all of them are just… Better than me? It’s four  _ whole  _ women, Ulquiorra. What would you do if Yammy wanted to date four other men? What if they were better at all the things that already made you special to him?”

“That would never happen as Yammy is not capable of earning anyone else of my caliber.” Ulquiorra says this without so much as blinking and Orihime hides her face behind her hands, groaning at how  _ helpless _ this situation feels. “Do you think Nel wants you to meet these women in person with the end goal of replacing you with them?”

“No. I don’t think she’d plan that on purpose.” The first time Orihime met Nel had been at a bar where she knocked a man out for grabbing Orihime by the arm. The cruelest she could ever be was with men who were predatory. None of that was ever directed at her.

Viridian eyes light on her. “Then why are you afraid? I was under the impression that Halibel invited you to stay at her home during the holidays because she wanted to get to know the two of you better. You were excited when you first told me about it.”

That was true; she was. The prospect of traveling up into the mountains to spend the holidays with four beautiful women was exciting to her in more ways than one, and she still wants to go more than she wants just about anything else. The video chat with Apacci was so much  _ fun, _ Orihime usually spent the entire time blushing and giggling and struggling to string words together, but she was easy to talk to and it made Orihime want to meet her in person. Maybe especially when she found out Apacci was shorter than her because it was rare for Orihime to meet anyone who was shorter than she was.

But another part of her is afraid, because of course she is. There are  _ four _ beautiful women waiting for them, and how can she not be afraid? Nel is… Nel is Nel, and everything about her is unique and exciting and fun, and it makes Orihime so nervous because what if Nel grows bored of her? Or gets tired of reassuring her and talking her into things? There are four other women out there right now who could steal her girlfriend away from her, and they would not even have to try. It would be so easy.

She nibbles on her lower lip and shakes her head. “I’m just… I’m afraid that Nel is going to stop liking me. Because it takes me so long to warm up to things, you know.”

“I know.” Ulquiorra sets his laptop on the coffee table and pats the spot beside him on the couch, and Orihime crawls into that spot in relief, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, relieved when he hugs her in turn. “But Nel is not going to dislike you any time in the near future. The last time she was here and drank with us, she said herself that she wanted to marry you. It took a lot to dissuade her from proposing with an onion ring.”

Orihime giggles and nods, her cheeks warming at the memory of Yammy all but wrestling Nel off of the floor. “That was fun. I wish we got to do that more often.”

“We should do that more often. Perhaps after the holidays are over. We can celebrate your return.” Ulquiorra rubs a hand up and down her back. “But you have to come back happy with five girlfriends so that we can do that. It should be easy for you.”

“I hope so. I’m just. Well, you know.” Orihime shakes her head, tucking her face firmly against the side of his neck, not wanting to voice it out loud once more.

Ulquiorra hums in her ear. “You’re having second thoughts. Have you thought about telling Nelliel this yourself? She could probably ease your fears far better than I can because she’s the one who’s in love with you. Which, isn’t she coming over tonight?”

“She is, yeah. She wants to compete with Yammy again.” Orihime rolls her eyes and laughs even though her face flames furiously at what exactly that means. “I made the mistake of telling her that he was coming over before I left and, well. You know them.”

“I am unsurprised. That being said, Nel is not going to win. She can try, though.” Ulquiorra pats her on the back, as if congratulating her for the effort of trying and Orihime just sighs because she has to be the only person in this apartment not interested in this battle. She loves the sex, not the games. “Then tell her when she comes over. It’s better for you to go up there with the reassurance that your girlfriend loves you rather than expect her to break up with you before the holidays are over. That seems reasonable, yes?”

“Yes. Thank you, Ulqui-chan.” Orihime kisses him on the cheek, and he smiles softly at her.

The peace lasts for a total of fifteen minutes before tires on asphalt and loud arguing outside of their door has Ulquiorra tilting his head back, staring up at the ceiling as if asking God why they have to deal with this. Orihime giggles and walks to the door, unlocking it and letting in their respective partners, who appear to be arguing about parking spaces even though, from the looks of it, they both got good ones.

As soon as Nel sees her, though, she lapses out of arguing with Yammy and charges into the house, picking Orihime up around the waist and swinging her around. “Princess! I missed you so much. I’m glad you told me this fucking loser was coming by tonight.”

“Who’s gonna be the loser after tonight?” Yammy demands, shutting the door behind him.

“You are. I already told you, you’re not going to be winning.” Nel sticks her tongue out at him and Orihime giggles, hugging her girlfriend around her shoulders, nuzzling into her soft turquoise hair. “Hi, Ulquiorra. You look cute this evening.”

He does, though the comment has his nose wrinkling as he looks down at his clothing, his lips pursed as he picks at the oversized black sweater hanging off of his frame. “Cute?”

“Yes, cute.” Nel sets Orihime on her feet and leans in close. “Not as cute as my girl.”

The comment has Orihime hot even before Nel kisses her, bringing their lips together slowly as her fingers curl in the hair at the nape of Orihime’s neck. The first time they kissed, Orihime was overwhelmed by Nel’s expertise. Even now, she still is. The way Nel’s lips move against hers makes her knees weak and her stomach curl in on itself, her hands fitting against the cold shape of Nel’s shoulders, bare because her sweater hangs off of them, only the straps of her bra pressing against Orihime’s skin.

She registers the texture of lace just before her brain finally shuts off for good.

Nel takes advantage because of course she does. She presses their bodies together and Orihime can feel the soft and yet hard shape of her, the press of her breasts and the harder flesh of her abdominal muscles, the softness of her sweater giving way to the shape of her biceps. Nel works out and it shows, and Orihime loves touching her, measuring the differences in her muscles and her curves, where she is hard and where is she soft.

She has to come up for air first, her face hot as Nel only leans in to nuzzle at her throat. “You must have really missed me. It’s only been a couple of days.”

“I know.” Nel says this matter-of-factly and Orihime giggles, rubbing her hands up Nel’s back, feeling the muscles there flex under her fingers. “But that’s enough, to be honest.”

Orihime has to agree with her on that, standing up on her toes so she can rest her head on Nel’s shoulder. It’s over her should that she sees Yammy has taken up her place on the couch and has Ulquiorra sitting in his lap, one arm wrapped around his waist and the other wrapped up in all of his long black hair while they kiss. Ever since Orihime has known Ulquiorra, he’s been with Yammy. He hardly ever seems to acknowledge that a period of time existed before he had a boyfriend. Maybe they’d always been together.

That kind of romance always made her soft in more ways than one. Which only made her think back to her current predicament in that Mila Rose and Sung-Sun, two of the women they are going to visit, had been dating long before they met Halibel. They were  _ high school sweethearts _ for that matter, and Orihime tried not to clam up thinking about it.

“Hime, can we go upstairs?” Nel asks her, fingers combing through her hair. “To your room, I mean. I’m actually really tired. Last day of work was a bitch. I’m sure you can guess.”

Gently, Orihime runs her fingers through Nel’s hair. “Nnoitra mess with you all day?”

“All  _ week _ but he was especially bad today, and Tesla was there so there was no dissuading him from running his mouth.” Nel kisses her temple, and Orihime melts. “I’ll carry you.”

That pretty much makes it a done deal in and of itself. “Okay. We can go up to my room.”

With a triumphant and Amazonian yell, Nel sweeps her off of her feet, princess carrying Orihime up to her bedroom. The apartment is just large enough to need a second floor for the bedrooms, and her door and Ulquiorra’s are on opposite walls and not quite situated directly across from one another with the bathroom being at the end of the hall. Nel knows where her room is by heart, nudging it open with her hip before tossing Orihime on her bed so that she bounces, squealing a little at being let go of so suddenly.

“You all packed for tomorrow?” Nel asks her, turning on the small lamp next to her bed.

“Yeah, I am.” Orihime frowns at the question but sits up even as she tugs her top up and over her head, tossing it onto the floor. She can pick it up in the morning. “I, um, wanted to talk to you about that if you didn’t mind? I’m a little bit nervous to meet them.”

Nel nods and sits on the edge of the bed next to her, and she must be determined to listen because Orihime being topless around her is not something that ordinarily works out well for her. “Of course. What did you want to talk about? Having second thoughts?”

“Not really. Just, um…” Orihime tucks her hair back behind her ears, picks the little blue hair clip out of her bangs. “I’m just worried you’re going to get tired of me?”

The expression on Nel’s face softens and she leans forward, cupping Orihime’s chin and pressing a kiss to her lips. “No. I could never get tired of you. Even if this doesn’t work out, I have every intention of walking away from this with you as my girlfriend.”

“Yeah?” Orihime feels like a fool for being worried in the first place.

Nel’s smile is soft and she kisses Orihime once more. “Of course. I just want to have fun with them, you know? See if there’s anything there. If not, we just chill with some good friends of ours. But I’m not like, going new girlfriend shopping or anything.”

Orihime ducks her head, trying to hide how hot her face feels at that comment. “No, I know that, I just. I guess… What if they have something that I don’t have? And you decide that they’re better than I am because they have what you want—”

“You already have everything I want, princess. It’s why I’m dating you in the first place. I wouldn’t if I didn’t want to be with you.” Nel’s fingers come to rest beneath her chin and Orihime swallows hard as she looks up at her girlfriend, coaxed by her gentle touch. “Did you really think I’d replace you like that? I promise, that is  _ not _ going to happen.”

Hearing it spoken out loud in such a way makes her feel foolish for even bringing it up like this, and Nel had been in such a good mood, too. “I’m sorry. I’m working on the self-esteem issues, I promise, I just. It’s been eating at me too much, I suppose.”

“I’m glad you said something to me about it. I’d rather reassure you than drag you up into the mountains and have you all worried,” Nel tells her, and it sounds like she means it.

Orihime means to lean in and kiss her when her cell phone chimes and she pulls it out of her pocket, pausing at the sight of the Line message from Apacci. They have a group chat, of course, because it only makes sense to have one for all of them to talk to each other, but this notification is coming from her private messages. It’s short and sweet, a simple goodnight message and a reminder that Apacci is excited to see her in the morning with a cute sticker of a sleeping seal that makes Orihime’s chest flutter.

It feels like all of the rest of them are so excited and ready for this, and she’s just  _ scared. _ And how ridiculous is that? Her reaction is the clear outlier in this situation.

Nel peeks down at the message and smiles. “She’s so excited to meet you. Wear boots so that it’s like a really dramatic height difference. Even one centimeter is enough to annoy her so we really have to get her going right from the get-go.”

“You’re such a bully.” Orihime types a message back to say she’s getting ready to go to bed and she’ll see Apacci tomorrow afternoon at the latest. They want to get out early before the snow gets heavy enough to be a problem up some of those mountain roads.

“Someone has to keep her in her place. Which is, y’know, three feet off the ground.” Nel kisses behind her ear and Orihime shivers, turning to give Nel another kiss, her hand sliding up into soft sea hair before Nel pushes her back down against her mattress.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway clue them in on the fact the silence in the apartment is not going to last much longer, soft laughter giving way to a low moan before a door knob turns. It goads Nel into pulling her sweater off, and Orihime’s mouth goes a little dry because there’s not much to her bra, soft black lace that Orihime can see everything through. Nel wore it on purpose. She probably meant to wear it for the trip, too, so that when things ended up moving to the bedroom, one of the women would see it.

“You’ll probably be too tired to stay awake for the drive if we do this now.” Nel strokes a hand down the side of her face and Orihime’s eyelids flutter at the gentle contact as she turns her head to mouth against Nel’s palm. “There’s my girl. Wanna do it anyway?”

“Of course.” And maybe she squirms just a  _ little _ when Nel uses that term of endearment for her, especially considering how much it gets her started on its own.

The way Nel smiles and leans down to kiss her makes her melt and says that she knows  _ exactly _ what her words and voice do to Orihime. Orihime parts her thighs so Nel can rest between them, the soft flimsy fabric of her skirt sliding up her thighs. Nel brushes the skin there with her fingers, traces the soft flesh and presses her fingers in just enough to have Orihime hiccuping softly against her lips. They both jump when  _ something _ thumps against the hallway and then Nel laughs and presses her down into the mattress.

She is far more adventurous in bed than Orihime is, though to be fair Orihime had only had the two girlfriends before meeting Nel, and the first relationship was awkward at best considering it took place during high school. The second was better, but Nel had much more experience and she always put it to use, subtly reminding Orihime there was a whole  _ world _ of sexual experimentation she was shying away from.

She wants to get better about it. She does. But for now, this is enough. The way Nel gasps and moans slack against her mouth when her fingers slip beneath the matching lace of Nel’s thong is enough, the way Nel’s hips undulate down against her hand. Her touch is always a little more skittish and uncertain even though she knows Nel’s body well by now, knows where all of her most sensitive places are and how to best exploit them to make a mess of her girlfriend. She tries not to hold back, and somehow she always does.

Nel is far less shy or timid, pressing Orihime down into the mattress, kissing down the length of her body until she trembles from the anticipation of it all. When she cries out, it’s loud and unashamed, her thighs trembling as Nel mouths at her, kisses up the inside of her thigh and leaves long, lewd, wet stripes up her swollen folds. Distantly, she thinks she can hear loud cries echoing from across the hall, but it’s hard to focus.

They’re lying next to each other, sweaty and catching their breath, when Orihime picks up on the sound of springs creaking, covering her face with her hands. “Oh, they’re still—”

“That bastard. He’s lucky we have a trip to get up early for, or I’d surpass him.” Nel rolls over onto her side, throws a leg over Orihime’s and an arm around her waist, tucking her face down against Orihime’s neck. “Let’s sleep, princess. We can get up early and shower.”

Orihime nods and presses her lips to the top of Nel’s head and wonders if she can really do this, or if she’s just tricking herself into thinking she can.


	2. pink

The drive up into the mountains takes entirely too little time in Orihime’s opinion.

To her credit, she tries to stay awake the entire time. She does. They make coffee and seal it into thermoses before leaving the apartment— Ulquiorra and Yammy still in bed, likely not able to move after the night before— and she drinks half of it before the first hour of the trip is even over. The sky outside is still dark and she can see the twinkle of stars where the farthest parts are still velvety black, the oncoming threat of sunrise a bare thread of color on the distant horizon. She blames the darkness and the soothing playlist Nel puts on to help her focus on driving for why she falls asleep.

When she opens her eyes again, the light is blinding and she whines, feathering her eyelashes so she can peer through them at the winter world of white around them. Snow flurries have already begun to fall and she sits up slowly, about to ask Nel if they are going to make it in time or if they might need to pull over when she spots the time.

Her heart sinks. They can’t be more than fifteen minutes away at this rate.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Nel teases her. “I was going to message Apacci to come out and carry you inside if you were still asleep when we got there. Did you have a nice nap?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t split the drive with you. I can drive us back.” Though she made the offer and only received a look from Nel in the process, she still wanted to be awake to actually  _ make _ good on it. Sighing, she fumbles with her zipper.

Nel frowns at her, soft hazel eyes uncertain. “Princess, are you still having second thoughts? We can turn around if you really want to. I will right now if you ask me to.”

The thought is tempting. She could probably stay at Nel’s apartment for most of the holidays if she batted her eyelashes temptingly enough and promised Nel’s roommate not to cook anything he might accidentally eat while there. But she  _ promised _ she would at least try so she sits back and shakes her head, staring out of the windshield at the road ahead.

A hand touches her thigh. “Orihime, if you tell me to turn around, I will. I mean it.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want you to.” She  _ does, _ in a sense, but at the same time she does not, and she really does want to see Apacci in person now that she has a chance. “I am sorry about the drive, though. I know you don’t exactly like long drives like this.”

Nel shrugs a shoulder at her and squeezes her thigh before placing her hand back on the steering wheel. “No worries, my love. There’s no cars up here, so it’s not so bad.”

Though she had been quiet about it for most of the time they had known each other, Orihime knew there was a car accident in Nel’s youth, one that left her two parents short and living with a cousin who got along well enough with her that Nel never called the majority of her childhood anything less than an adventure. Still, she never seems to much like driving more than she has to. Orihime can hardly blame her and feels bad all over again for being asleep instead of offering to take the entire drive herself.

Of course, she very well could have made up an excuse and taken them back down the mountain while Nel slept beside her, so maybe she isn’t to be trusted in such things.

The time passes far too quickly and when Nel turns off of the main road, Orihime finds herself playing more furiously with her zipper, trying not to rasp it up and down too much and risk distracting or bothering Nel too much. Still, there is no masking the small gasp that leaves her mouth when Nel starts up the driveway, the slope luckily flattening out at the top so that there is no risk of their car sliding down it and into the snow.

Though she has seen the house in pictures and certainly was able to gauge its size relative to everything around it, seeing the house in person is daunting. From what Orihime has gathered, all four women in the house are employed and tend to work from home with traveling to deal with as well, but it allows them to pay their bills and keep such a home. It must be worth it. Orihime would  _ love _ to live in a house like this some day.

Nel parks the car in the driveway behind two cars that look brand new right off the lot, pulling her phone out of her pocket, likely to let Halibel know they are here. Orihime just stares at the white shutters, the new paint, the large picture windows and the soft pretty curtains pulled back to let the natural winter light in. She sinks deeper into her seat, wondering if she can phase through it and down into the earth before it’s too late. When Nel smiles and unbuckles her seatbelt, Orihime doesn’t move.

“What is it, Hime?” Nel asks her, her voice low and soft like she’s speaking to a frightened animal, and part of Orihime is just a little annoyed at that. Only a touch, though, because she understands. “We’re here. Let’s go inside. The girls are excited to meet with us.”

Who  _ wouldn’t _ want to meet Nel in person? She looks exceptionally beautiful today, took the extra time in the bathroom mirror to apply a dark lip stain, her gold eyeshadow bringing out the green hues in her eyes. Her spill of sea hair contrasts nicely with her black coat, her grey sweater. Monochrome colors suit someone so colorful and suddenly Orihime is aware of her own pale pink sweater and wonders how much it might clash against her hair, yanking her zipper up all the way over it just in case.

“I can see the curtains moving,” Nel singsongs. “I bet it’s Sung-Sun. Halibel says she can be cool in the beginning but she warms up so fast. She’s so tiny and cute, don’t you think?”   


“She is in all the pictures I’ve seen of her,” Orihime says, finally unbuckling her seatbelt and sliding out of the car, too warm and cooped up against Nel’s sunshine smile.

Nel slips out of the car, twirling her keys around her finger. “I wonder how short she is in person. Oh, I’ll get the bags. Why don’t you head up to the door and get it open?”

“I can get my own bags.”  _ And go in there on my own? Not a chance. _ “They aren’t heavy.”

“But I insist.” Nel pops open the trunk, making a grab for all of them at once.

But Orihime moves to stop her, wrestling at least one of the bag handles out of her hands. “No, let me carry my own bags. You already drove us all the way up here.”

“I like doing nice things for you, though.” Nel pulls the bags away and stumbles, almost landing on her ass in the snow. Not that it stops Orihime from trying to wrestle her bags back. “It’s really okay! I can handle them, they aren’t that heavy—”

“You should have just come inside and gotten me to carry them.” The low and sudden voice makes Orihime jump, her head swinging around to see Emilou Apacci leaning against the side of their car with an amused expression on her face. “Hand them over, Nelliel. I already told you that I can bench more than you can. I’m stronger.”

Though Orihime has spoken with Apacci over video message, something about her physical presence is compelling. Her black hair shows up blue underneath the natural light, the blunt cut of her bob matching the sharp line of her jaw, all leading up to the interesting mismatch of her eyes, one blue as a spring sky and one the same amber of brandy. She looks unfairly handsome in her black form-fitting sweater with the sleeves pushed up to bare her forearms, the red puffy vest on top of it drawing the look together. Orihime wonders how cold she must be standing there in so little clothing.

“We could have done it,” Nel grouses as Apacchi takes the bags from her fingers.

In answer, Apacci only looks her up and down, then shakes her head. “Before the two of you froze to death out here? I doubt it. C’mon, Hal’s waiting for you inside. She’s got tea.”

The promise of a hot drink to warm them up is tempting but Orihime still finds herself trudging up the driveway behind Nel, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat as she glances around at the snow-covered trees. Everything looks like a picturesque scene up here and it makes her antsy, too perfect and easy to destroy as it is. A snow globe resting on the precipice, waiting to hurtle itself toward the ground and shatter.

Just inside the door, Sung-Sun and Mila Rose are waiting for them, Mila Rose’s arm resting around Sung-Sun’s shoulders. As soon as Nel sees them, she lets out a little excited squeal and hurries up to the door, and Sung-Sun breaks away from Mila Rose to meet her halfway. She has to stand on her toes and brace her hands on Nel’s shoulders to give her a proper greeting kiss, and Orihime tries not to let it bother her. It shouldn’t.

Mila Rose helps Apacci with the bags and this allows Orihime to slip into the house mostly undetected, scanning the foyer as she pushes the door shut and toes her shoes off for slippers. The house is almost too warm and she reaches for the zipper of her coat before she remembers why she has it zipped up in the first place, stuffing her hand into the coat pocket instead. Maybe she can steal upstairs and change into something nicer than this, something that will make a positive first impression on the women here.

Inside, the house is just as nice as it looked from the outside. What strikes her is the mismatch of styles here, the modern look coupled with a more homely touch that makes everything look expensive and warm and so, so different from everything Orihime herself is used to. A glance toward the doorway once more reveals Nel now standing with her arm around Sung-Sun’s shoulders while Mila Rose leans in to give her a kiss.

_ Fifth wheel much? _ Orihime asks herself, shaking her head as she pads into the living room. There is a fire burning in the hearth and she gravitates toward it, the photos on the mantle, all set up with black and silver frames that are so simplistically lovely.

Everything in this house is expensive. She can tell just looking at it.

Busy studying a photograph of what appears to be Halibel and a blond man she does not recognize, Orihime hears no footsteps. So when an arm slips around her shoulders from behind, pulling her back against a soft chest, she squeaks and jumps and almost slides on the smooth wooden flooring beneath her, losing her balance. A second arm slips around her waist to keep her on her feet until she can get her knees back beneath her where they go.

“Sorry to startle you, Orihime.” Halibel’s voice is low and warm, deep and dark as velvet, the words whispered so close to her ear that she can feel the warm puff of Halibel’s breath there. Heat spreads down her neck and up her cheeks. “It is lovely to have you in my home after so long. I hope the drive up here was not too dangerous for you?”

“Hi, Halibel.” Orihime takes a slow, deep breath and looks over her shoulder at the woman standing behind her, at her white button-down and her black pants and the way her hair is braided and tucked behind her ears. The flames licking up the walls of the chimney gleam on Halibel’s brown skin and do incredible things to her green-blue eyes that Orihime didn’t realize such eyes could even  _ do. _ “I wasn’t even paying attention, it was my fault. And it was fine! Nel drove most of the way. I fell asleep on her.”

Halibel hums thoughtfully, fingers sifting through Orihime’s hair, tucking it back behind her ear. “How charming. Are you still tired? I can show you to your room.”

The out is right there. But the moment Orihime opens her mouth is the moment Sung-Sun appears, fingers darting up to catch the zipper of her coat. “Here, let me take this.”

For a childish moment, Orihime plans on gripping the coat tight to her body and insisting she is too cold, but she is positively sweltering and likely flushed from the heat of it. So she lets Sung-Sun unzip her coat for her, shrugging out of it and letting her have it, her head dipping meekly as she tugs at the bottom of her sweater to drag it back down into place. It’s so childish, and next to Halibel, she feels significantly… Less.

_ Stop this, _ she tells herself, lifting her chin to meet Halibel’s gaze dead on once more.  _ She wanted to meet you. She invited you to stay at her house. That means she  _ likes _ you. _

“My, my.” Halibel’s voice is lower now as she stretches out a hand, fingers tracing the neckline of Orihime’s sweater where it presses against her throat. “Our princess came here dressed in cotton candy pink. It’s a beautiful color on you.”

Her face  _ flames _ and she wants to throw herself into the chimney, certain she matches by this point. “It’s my favorite color. I— Do you like it?”

She notices the moment when Halibel’s eyes widen minutely, a finger tracing one white shark woven into the pale pink, the colors close enough that they’re easy to miss in such lighting. But Halibel’s lips quirk upward in a smile just the same; Orihime still remembers Nel telling her about Halibel and the sharks, and when she saw the sweater, she seized it on gut instinct alone. Now, she has no idea what to think. Halibel is smiling at her, so obviously she likes it, right? Orihime has nothing to be afraid of.

“I love it,” Halibel reassures her. “Did you wear this just for me?”

Slowly, Orihime lifts her chin, willing herself to remain hard and put together as she gazes into those eyes. They make her think of Nel’s hair. “I did. I p-picked it out to show you.”

For a moment, Halibel says nothing. Her full lips press together for a moment and her expression is unreadable, a perfect poker face as she traces the edge of a shark, trails her finger down lower as if nudging it down some invisible current. It makes Orihime shiver, feeling pinned in place even though Halibel is barely touching her. An implicit command that her legs obey, keeping her rooted in her spot.

When she does speak, her voice has dropped another octave. Orihime did not think it was possible at this point. “I’ll have you in this later on tonight, I believe.”

“Hmm?” Orihime drags her teeth over her lower lip, only half-hearing Halibel’s words. Her attention is focused on that solitary finger, tracing a curve beneath her breast. “What?”

She thinks she sees a momentary spark of amusement in Halibel’s gaze before she clarifies her statement. “I’ll have you in this sweater and nothing but. Does that sound appetizing?”

_ Oh. _ Orihime opens her mouth to answer, caught somewhere between disbelief and horror, but Apacci saves her from having to speak. She walks into the room with her shoulders squared and her back straight, all but strutting, brushing past Halibel without much of a thought, giving her arm a knock to the side so she isn’t touching Orihime anymore. The jolt is so sudden and jarring that Orihime’s eyes skitter nervously to Halibel to gauge her reaction, but the amusement has returned tenfold as she shakes her head.

Orihime never even gave her a proper answer to her question.

“It’s about time I finally meet you in person.” Apacci steps into her personal space without any thought about it at all, one hand curling in the small of Orihime’s back and drawing her in close. Despite Nel’s insistince, Orihime had not worn boots, and their height difference is unnoticeable this close to one another. “You’re so beautiful in person, princess.”

The nickname was one filched from Nel, though plenty of people in her life have made the same pun on her name— Nel was the one who made it  _ different, _ the term of endearment rolling off of her tongue like so much sweet honey. Apacci says it like it belongs to her, fingers pressing into Orihime’s spine like they know all the spaces between ligament and bone and muscle, like they do this every day of the week.

“You look so handsome,” she finally breathes when she realizes Apacci has been staring at her for too many minutes, her own hesitation dragging on too long. “Did you dress up nice because we were coming over? You know you didn’t have to do that.”

Apacci laughs. “Are you kidding me? I had to make a good first impression on you in the flesh. You can look at my awful bedhead in the morning. Before I brush my teeth, even.”

The prospect startles a giggle out of Orihime and, slowly, some of the tension in her muscles begins to slacken. “Are you sure? You’re not going to run off and get all prim and proper and be waiting for us downstairs? I wouldn’t put it past you, I don’t think.”

“I’m wounded you’ve already discovered a facet of my personality from a video alone.” Apacci takes her by the hand, presses a kiss to the backs of her fingers. “That’s a cute sweater. So Nel told you the story about the hammerheads?”

“She did,” Orihime says, her eyes sliding over Apacci’s shoulder to Halibel.

Halibel snorts and shakes her head, smoothing out her shirt over her stomach, making sure it is still tucked in where she left it. “The most terrifying moment of my life, I think. I still have nightmares about what going back in the water would do to me. I’d do it again.”

Orihime thinks of Nel and thinks of cars and tries to put it all out of her head.

“Pink is a great color on you.” Apacci picks at the bottom of her sweater and Orihime tries not to pay too much attention to it, the pressure of fingertips pressing into her skin.

“Thank you.” She looks around the living room once more, searching desperately for a topic, something to discuss that isn’t her, and isn’t this sweater. “So, do you want to give me a tour? You’ve talked about how nice the house is. Now seems like a good time to find out.”

Apacci nods and takes her by the hand, and her fingers are warm against Orihime’s cool ones as she gives her a gentle tug toward the center of the room. “This is the living room. It looks nicer than the den because this is where we entertain guests. Have to keep it in pretty pristine condition to make sure they’re always impressed by us.”

“Money talks,” Halibel says, following in their footsteps, her own almost silent in comparison. “It is better for everyone to know what they are getting into early.”

The comment makes the hairs on the back of Orihime’s neck stand up and she tells herself that there is no possible way for Halibel to know about her doubts, not right now. Her teeth slide over her lip again when she feels Halibel’s hand on her back, guiding her forward, and thinks about brown skin and soft pink and the offer, the  _ promise, _ of this sweater and nothing beneath it. Orihime feels overdressed and tries not to press her thighs together too tightly, wondering if Halibel would be able to pick up on what her words had done. She tried on purpose, after all. Was she waiting for a reaction?

Perhaps she was still waiting for an answer. Orihime never gave her one, after all.

Mila Rose and Nel are sitting together on the couch in the den, much darker and warmer in hues and tone, more photographs in chintzy frames and plush furniture that threatens to swallow them whole. There is one dark arm wrapped around Nel’s shoulders, soft lips pressed against her ear, Nel’s soft giggles the only indication of what is going on. She looks so  _ happy _ and when her eyes meet Orihime’s, the mirth there is unmistakable.

“Okay,” she says, turning to look at Halibel, the tension between them pulling tighter and tighter as Halibel leans closer to her. “The sweater. Nothing but? Okay.”

Halibel’s smile is slow and as sweet as sugar, taking its time as it slowly lights her face, curves the soft plush curves of her lips as she takes a few steps closer, bringing their bodies closer together. She can feel the heat on Halibel’s skin, see her skin through the white of her button-down, the lack of a bra beneath the fabric.

“I’m glad we agree with each other, Orihime,” she says softly. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”


	3. lost

When evening falls, dinner has been finished, and Nel volunteers to help load the dishwasher, Orihime slips out onto the deck that serves as a back porch, standing high over the snow landscape that now lays shrouded in darkness. Golden light spills through the sliding glass doors, lighting up a fair amount, but the trees look even darker and she shivers at the sight as she sips from the glass of wine in her hand. Though she handles alcohol not well at all, she thought it might steel her nerves and allow her to relax all at once, not that she can vouch for either. She is still standing there when the door slides open and Apacci slips outside to join her, carrying a beer in one hand.

“Getting some fresh air?” She sidles up next to Orihime, sipping from the dark brown neck of the bottle. “It’s not so cold, I suppose. What did you think of dinner?”

Orihime smiles softly. “It was delicious. I didn’t know Sung-Sun was such a great cook.”

“She went to culinary school and had a degree, but management works out better in the long-run for her. Says it’s stressful working in kitchens when you’re a woman.” Apacci nods her head as if this makes perfect sense, and Orihime supposes it does.

Women were expected to remain in the kitchen in the home, but when it came to high-end restaurants and the position of professional head chefs, it was a career thought of in terms of men. Orihime shakes her head and sighs, sipping a little more of the blush pink wine in her glass. She has to go slowly because she has no desire to be tipsy right now.

“So,” Apacci says, “when are you going to tell me what’s on your mind, Hime?”

Staring down at her glass, Orihime chuckles. “So you guessed it, huh? I tried to hide it—”

“And I wish you wouldn’t. One of the only ways a relationship with more than a single person can work is exquisite communication. You have to talk when there are problems.” Apacci turns and, with a small jump, sits on the edge of the deck railing. “So, tell me what’s wrong. I don’t like it when my pretty princess is upset and hiding it from me.”

That much is true, and Orihime knows it even though she has no desire to admit it out loud. “Nel and I talked about it before we came here. I just… I dunno. Sometimes I guess I just don’t feel like I’m  _ enough _ for her, and the thought that she might find what she really needs in one or all of you and leave me behind really scares me.”

“Ah. I understand that feeling, actually.” Apacci swings her legs back and forth, her expression thoughtful, her gaze distant. “When I first met Halibel, I was over the moon for her. I wanted her. But, she had Sung-Sun and Mila Rose, and I told myself, she doesn’t need you. She’s got what she needs already. It’s not always about need. Sometimes it’s about want. Would you say that Nel’s a pretty capable woman who has her shit together?”

“Yes.” Orihime stretches out a hand, tracing the bend of Apacci’s knee with a finger, feeling the dark material of her jeans, thick against the winter chill. “She’s always had it together, honestly. She’s so confident and self-assured. It amazes me.”

Grinning, Apacci takes her by the hand and draws her closer, parting her thighs so that Orihime can stand between them. “So she probably doesn’t  _ need _ you in the way you think she does. But she wants you around because you make her happy. You get me?”

“I guess.” She does understand the point, giggling when Apacci leans down to kiss the end of her nose. “I guess we never really got to have a proper hello kiss, did we?”

“No, we didn’t. That’s disappointing.” Apacci cups her chin and Orihime shivers when the woman’s thumb brushes over her lower lip. “You have such pink lips. I thought it was stain or something, but it’s not. It’s natural. That’s so fucking cute, Hime. Can I kiss you now?”

That she asks makes Orihime shiver all over. “You’re such a gentleman, Apacci.”

“I know.” Apacci’s smile is roguish. “So can I kiss you, then? Or do I have to work for it?”

Orihime finishes her glass of wine and sets it carefully on the railing far away from Apacci’s body before leaning back and giving her a small nod. “Okay. You can kiss me.”

She isn’t expecting the leg that curls around her waist and draws her closer, a small little squeak leaving her lips when the seam of Apacci’s jeans presses against her stomach through her sweater. It knocks her off balance just enough that the press of Apacci’s lips against her own feel like a shock to her system, her hands fluttering for something to hold onto until they settle on Apacci’s slim shoulders. Despite the suddenness, Apacci kisses her gently, giving Orihime time to catch up before a hand cups the back of her neck and draws her ever close, their noses bumping gently before Apacci tilts her head.

Her mouth tastes like beer and the spice from Sung-Sun’s dessert and something else, something that must just be the taste of her tongue. Orihime shivers when Apacci licks along the seam in her mouth, parting her lips for her, pressing her own tongue against Apacci’s. The kiss warms her all the way through so that the slight pressure of a breeze makes her shiver. On the back of her neck, Apacci’s hand flexes.

“You’re getting cold out here, hmm?” Apacci slides off of the railing, picks up her bottle and Orihime’s empty glass. “Early, but we’ll need the time. Would you like to come up to my room with me? Halibel already said you agreed to play with her tonight.”

She had. Orihime nods, fidgeting with the bottom of her sweater. Feeling suddenly brave, she straightens her spine. “I wore something pretty under this, just in case.” Maybe she worn it for  _ Nel, _ but so be it. Apacci and Halibel are just as good.

“Oh?” Apacci stills, looks her up and down and Orihime blushes. “We’ll see just how nice.”

She offers Orihime her arm, and Orihime takes it, letting Apacci lead her back into the kitchen. Three women are now missing, but Halibel is still standing at the counter, measuring out what appears to be coffee for two different pots, humming to herself as she presses a few buttons. Apacci flashes her a wide smile, sets Orihime’s glass in the sink and drops her bottle in the trash can before leaning in to give Halibel a kiss.

The sight of Halibel softening as she leans down into Apacci’s kiss makes Orihime’s stomach hot and she presses her thighs together as she watches them, the way Apacci cups Halibel’s chin to deepen the kiss. They move together as if pulled close by an invisible rhythm and Orihime feels so lost in comparison, groping her way through this. She’s new to this, she reasons, and these two have much more experience than she does.

“Are we retiring together?” Halibel asks, her eyes cutting to Orihime. “The three of us?”

The way she looks at Orihime makes it clear this is a decision being laid at her feet, taken out of Apacci’s hands entirely. If she says no, then it’s no. “Yes,” Orihime murmurs. “Um, where are the others? Did they already go up to bed?”

“Mila Rose wanted to watch a movie before bed and Nel is picking one out,” Halibel says, skimming her hand down Orihime’s cheek to cup her jaw. “Are you certain? Neither of us will press you if you’ve changed your mind since we talked this afternoon.”

They should, she thinks, talk about this more, but Orihime doesn’t want to talk about it right now. Talking has gotten her almost nowhere, and she imagines all she will do is have the same conversation she already has twice today. So she leans in to kiss Halibel instead, trying to tell her without words what she wants, whimpering softly when Halibel kisses her back with slow and determined passion that makes her thighs press tighter together, the friction against the lace beneath her jeans making her all kinds of hot and bothered. The material feels damp, sticks to her skin; she wants to take it off.

But Halibel cups her chin, tilts it up. “Tell me with your words, Orihime.”

“I want to go upstairs with you and Apacci.” Orihime swallows hard having Halibel’s eyes gazing into her own like this, so sudden and direct. “I don’t want to overthink things right now if that’s okay? I just want to go to bed with both of you.”

“We can talk later,” Halibel murmurs, her hand dropping to the collar of Orihime’s sweater, fingers curling just beneath it, brushing against her collarbone.

Apacci leads her by the hand and Halibel follows just behind her on the stairs; Orihime can see Nel over her shoulder on the couch, her head resting on Mila Rose’s chest with Sung-Sun’s head in her lap. She raises a lazy hand to flash a thumb and finger circle at her, and Orihime giggles and shakes her head; right now, things are fine. Nel is having a good time, and maybe she’s thinking too much, but she’s going to stop thinking so hard for a while. At least an hour, she assumes. There have been some stories from Nel.

“My bedroom,” Apacci says when they reach the top of the stairs.

“Do you all have separate bedrooms?” Orihime asks. The bedrooms had been the one part of the tour that had been kept from her; they were meant to be a surprise.

In the back of her mind, they were achievements to unlock. Ulquiorra would be both proud and disappointed in her for making that kind of connection, she was sure.

Halibel speaks from behind her. “Yes. My bedroom is the one with the largest bed, but the other rooms have beds big enough to accommodate at least three people. Everyone needs their own personal space, you know? And sometimes you just want to come home from a late night and sprawl out in your own bed without worrying about waking someone.”

“And even with a bed as big as Halibel’s, sometimes when everyone’s sprawled out and comfy, there’s just no room.” Apacci leads her down the hall to the door closest to what she assumes is the master bedroom door. “This is me. It has the best natural light.”

She pushes the door open and leads Orihime inside, and a soft gasp leaves her throat when she sees the massive picture window overlooking the forest, the curtains drawn aside so moonlight spills across the bed. The sheets are dark where they are visible and the blanket atop is a massive plaid one lined with fleece that Orihime wants to touch, run her fingers over the softness there. Before she can, Apacci turns to her, smiles broadly.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” she says, and Orihime bites her lip as Halibel closes the door behind them. “You think Mila Rose’s abs are nice? Look at this.”

With that, Apacci tugs her sweater up and over her head, and a little noise leaves Orihime’s lips at the sight of her body, the visible muscles of her abs, the size of her biceps. Her hand moves before she can stop it, running down the firm grooves in Apacci’s skin, and a breathless whimper leaves her lips. When Apacci laughs, she can feel her abs  _ flexing _ and thinks very hard about how Apacci can probably pick her up.

And then, without warning, she does.

She’s just suddenly  _ there, _ her hands slipping around the backs of Orihime’s thighs and lifting her, tossing her down on the bed so that she bounces on it for a second. Before she even has time to react, Apacci is on top of her, pressing the hard muscles of her stomach down against Orihime’s as she kisses her. The edges of her hair tickle Orihime’s cheeks and she shivers, her hands grasping the bedcover as hard as she can.

“How lovely.” Halibel sits down on the mattress next to them, stretching out a hand to comb her fingers through Orihime’s hair where it’s spilled across the cover. “I want to take your sweater off, since you wore it for me. You feel like a present I should unwrap.”

Orihime nods and, when Apacci backs off, sits up slowly, turning toward Halibel and holding her arms up over her head. “Go ahead. That was kind of supposed to be the point.”

“Sweet girl, thinking of me.” Halibel smiles at her and moves to her knees, and Orihime is forced to remember that Halibel is much taller than her.

Her fingers are warm as they slip just under the edge of Orihime’s sweater, nudging it up around her waist as she traces the edge of her stomach. Unlike most of the women in this house, Orihime is not skinny. Her body is soft almost everywhere, something that caused no end of hell in high school when she was already developing and boys were gawking at her every time she turned around. It made her uncomfortable then. Now, under Halibel’s warm gaze, she feels… Safer, attractive and excited at the thought of turning her on.

Halibel takes her sweet time, inching Orihime’s sweater up her body, stopping just below her breasts, the fabric bunched there an unbearable weight against her skin. “You’re lovely, Orihime.” Halibel drags the tip of her tongue over her lips. “And I want you to know I feel very privileged getting to spend tonight with you.”

The words have her flushing and squirming. “Please,” she says, and Apacci laughs softly.

“You’re teasing her, Hal.” Apacci stretches out a hand, pets up the length of Orihime’s thigh in slow gentle strokes like she  _ knows _ how wet Orihime is right now. “Take it off of her. I want to see what’s under there just as bad as you do.”

“I want to savor it,” Halibel argues. “She did something special for me.”

Orihime is all but trembling when Halibel finally tugs the sweater up and over her head, setting it down on the bed before her eyes widen at the pale blue lace bra. Peekaboo lace at that and the cool air playing over her exposed skin makes Orihime aware of just how hard her nipples feel, straining against the lace as she sits exposed to Halibel’s eyes. Apacci makes a low noise in her throat, color showing in her cheeks. Before Orihime can think of anything snappy to say, Halibel’s hands are on her, cupping her breasts through the lace, squeezing them gently, her thumb tracing the edge of lace against bare skin.

“I love this on you,” she whispers. “I hope you have one in every color of the rainbow.”

Giggling, Orihime shakes her head. “Just a few colors, but I can always buy more.”

“Please do.” Apacci is quiet for a moment and then her eyes blow comically wide as she reaches for Orihime’s jeans, popping the button. “Please tell me— Oh fuck.”

She does, in fact, having the matching set. It just seemed like the best surprise.

Apacci helps her out of her jeans when Halibel makes it clear she has no desire to move her hands, fingers dipping into the lace, tugging it down with her until one of Orihime’s nipples is freed to the air. She holds eye contact for as long as she can, leaning in to swipe with her tongue and a small sound leaves Orihime’s throat at the wetness, the hot curl of her tongue before she pulls the sensitive flesh between her lips to suck.

Orihime  _ keens _ and Halibel chuckles against her flesh before leaning back. “I can’t in good conscience pull the lace around much more. This is nice, so it must have been expensive.”

“Yeah,” Orihime admits, and Halibel leans closer to her, fingers dancing up her spine to the clasp of her bra. “Do you need he— Oh, you’ve already gotten it.”

“I have three girlfriends,” Halibel reminds her, and Orihime giggles as Halibel carefully tugs the straps of her bra down her arms, tugging the lace away from her breasts. They’re heavy enough to sag without the added support but Halibel’s hands are quickly there to cup them, lifting them, thumb brushing over her nipples. “You’re  _ so _ lovely, Hime.”

Apacci makes a noise in the back of her throat. “Can we lay you down, baby? I wanna go down on you so fucking bad. That lace can’t be comfy anymore.”

“It’s really not,” Orihime admits, and she lets them stretch her out on her back so that Apacci can tug her panties off, careful with the lace as it slides down her thighs.

Being naked in front of them when Apacci is still mostly clothed and Halibel is entirely clothed feels strange but neither of them let her think about it for very long. Halibel’s hands are on her breasts once more, massaging the weight of them, soft against her chest in this position while Apacci stretches out between her thighs, clearly making herself comfortable before breathing hot and warm against Orihime’s folds. The contact makes her tremble and then Apacci’s lips are against hers in what feels like an approximation of wet, messy kissing. It’s loud and  _ lewd _ and Orihime mewls at how it feels.

“She’s very good with her mouth,” Halibel reassures her, running the flat of her tongue over one of Orihime’s nipples. “Let us take care of you. You can trust us to do that, right?”

Orihime nods up at her. “Yes. I’m just— I’ve never done anything with two women before.”

“Ah, so this new experience of yours will belong solely to us.” Something dark flickers in Halibel’s eyes before she stretches a hand down, running her fingers through Apacci’s hair. “Make sure she enjoys it, dear. We have to make sure she comes back for more.”

Instead of lifting her head to reply, Apacci only moans in answer and Orihime bites back a cry at the way it feels, her thighs twitching wider apart to accommodate Apacci’s head. One hand slides up her inner thigh and over her stomach to her mound, fingers sifting through the curls of her pubic hair to pull her folds apart. The way Apacci looks down at her before looking up at her, face flushed and pupils dilated, makes her shiver.

“I’m going to make  _ sure _ you come back for more,” she says, running the flat of her tongue up Orihime’s pussy, flicking it against her clit, drawing a soft whine from Orihime’s lips. “I’m going to make you  _ cry, _ it’s going to feel so good. This is my favorite thing to do, and you can believe I’ve had  _ plenty _ of practice to get perfect at it. Three girls, remember.”

Orihime swallows hard, and the laugh that leaves her lips sounds unsteady even to her. “Well, go for it! I’m still trying to catch up just getting to the bedroom.”

“Feeling lost, princess?” Halibel asks her, leaning down to give her a sweet, soft kiss. “Let us lead you, then, just for now. We would never lead you astray, after all.”

Apacci gropes for one of her hands and squeezes it. “We got you, pretty girl, I promise.”

The touch of Apacci’s mouth between her thighs has Orihime’s breath coming harsher and faster almost immediately, the slow sweep of her tongue leaving her breathless a moment later. It feels almost experimental, the tip circling her clit before she purses her lips and sucks, drawing a soft cry from Orihime’s lips. Her licks lower are slower, more thoughtful, tracing the edges of Orihime’s opening before pressing inside, curling against her inner walls,  _ dragging _ back out and up over her clit, making her feel dizzy from the sensation.

Apacci’s hair tickles her thighs, the warm puff of her breath making her shiver. Halibel seems just as intent on keeping her unbalanced, trailing kisses between her breasts, her palms rubbing over Orihime’s nipples, keeping them hard and sending little bolts of sensation through to her core. It all coils tight and hot low in her gut, her feet kicking desperately at the mattress but far away from the women who are touching her.

“You’re so cute.” Halibel kisses her on the mouth, moves a hand to take a nipple in her mouth, curling her tongue around it and sucking until Orihime’s spine bows.

“The cutest,” Apacci agrees, murmuring the words against Orihime’s pussy so that it vibrates so subtly against her skin. “I can’t wait to hear how you sound when you come.”

She dips her head back down lower, her tongue slipping inside once more, fingers pressing tight circles into Orihime’s clit that push her higher and higher before she can handle it, her head flung back against the mattress on a cry. Halibel doesn’t make it easier on her, fingers toying with one nipple while she licks and sucks the other. The sounds are messy and lewd and Orihime gasps and chokes and arches against both of their mouths.

She gets no warning. Apacci’s fingers never slow and her tongue never stops, but the orgasm is right there, slamming into her, crashing over her body in a wave of liquid heat. And neither of them stop until Orihime is all but sobbing from overstimulation, wriggling between the two of them, trembling desperately.

Apacci leans back but only crawls up the length of Orihime’s body to kiss her, letting Orihime taste herself on Apacci’s lips. “I’m going to get you to come again.”

“Oh.” Orihime blinks up at her, looks down when Halibel’s hands are on her thighs.

She sees a wicked glint in those aquamarine eyes. “My turn, pretty princess.”


	4. cafe

“The reason we have two pots is because we don’t agree on coffee flavors,” Sung-Sun tells her the next morning, pouring her a cup of coffee from a glass carafe that is filled to the top with a milky brown coffee. “I like vanilla cappuccino. Here, try it. It’s naturally sweet.”

When Orihime finally dragged herself out from between Apacci and Halibel to shower— covered in hickeys, her body feeling unpleasantly sticky in some places and fatigue still deep in her bones— she felt somewhat better. It was silly to say sex has solved all of her misgivings and uncertainties but she does feel better, the endorphin rush leaving her a little more relaxed when she finally walks downstairs to the smell of freshly-brewed coffee wafting through the house. Everyone else appears to be in bed, which makes sense because Orihime has always been an unusually early riser.

Hair in a ponytail and in nothing more than a comfortable t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, she walks into the kitchen and stops short at the sight of Sung-Sun already up and moving and dressed, her own hair just damp enough to tell Orihime she was probably up earlier. When she turns and spies Orihime standing in the doorway, she smiles shyly at her, raising a coffee mug toward her, asking her if she wanted some coffe this morning.

Now, Orihime raises the mug to her lips, blowing softly on the surface of it, watching the steam dissipate before she takes a sip. “Oh, it’s so good. I’ve never liked black coffee.”

“Me either. I like it sweet, not bitter.” Sung-Sun pours herself a mug, and walks toward the table, which overlooks another large window peering out into the snow. “Why don’t you come sit with me for a bit? The others won’t be up for a while yet.”

“Nel’s a late sleeper when she can be,” Orihime says, taking a seat at the table.

Sung-Sun chuckles softly, tapping her fingernails against the edge of her mug. Their color is the same pale lavender as her eyes. “I thought as much. She’s still with Mila Rose, out like a light. Did you have a good night with Apacci and Hal? I know they can be a lot for a first threesome. Their team dynamic cannot be beat.”

“I did.” Orihime rubs at her cheek, trying to ignore the soft warmth blooming there because she feels ridiculous for blushing over Sung-Sun asking about her girlfriends. This is normal, right? “I’m sorry, I feel so dumb. My roommate and I have talked about him and his boyfriend having sex before and I feel like I was a lot less awkward then.”

Gently, Sung-Sun lays a hand on the back of hers, twining their fingers together, running her thumb over Orihime’s knuckles. “Do you know how well you’re handling this so far? Don’t be embarrassed. We know better than anyone else how it can be difficult at first.”

The gentle tone of her voice soothes Orihime’s disquiet and they enjoy their coffee, watching the sky outside slowly lighten from a deep charcoal to a pale dove grey; another snowy day is ahead of them. Though she dislikes the cold, Orihime loves looking at the snow and the frost-lined trees outside are beautiful to her. She sighs softly at the sight of them, watching a few birds flit among the trees, enjoying the quiet of the house, the warmth of the room around her. They must have a killer heating bill.

“I’m going to go start a fire in the living room and the den,” Sung-Sun tells her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You can just sit, and then if you’d like to, you can help me cook breakfast. Nel said you’ve got quite the taste for exotic flavors.”

The comment has Orihime groaning, dipping her head. “When I was in high school, I used to make some… Very strange things. I don’t cook as much anymore.”

“I can teach you how to cook if you really want to learn some skills,” Sung-Sun says, and Orihime remembers Apacci’s comment about her work as a chef, her degree in culinary skills. “And it’ll help to have a helper in the kitchen. Cooking for six people honestly isn’t hard because I’ve done parties of six and more, but it’s nice to have some help.”

Well, the least she can do is probably help given she’ll be eating. “Okay, I’ll help you.”

Sung-Sun’s lips are warm against her cheek, a flutter of touch there before she disappears into the living room. Once she is out of sight, Orihime fumbles her cell phone out of her pocket, finding a few missed texts from Ulquiorra that he must have sent after she went upstairs with Halibel and Apacci. She reassures him that everything is fine, the house is safe and warm, and there were no incidents during the night before flicking through the rest of her phone notifications. She only really checks Instagram.

Her heart does a little somersault at a photo from Nel’s account, one that wasn’t taken by her judging from the fact that both of her hands are visible, tucked up under her as she uses Mila Rose’s lap as a pillow. Another photo below that is of Yammy and Ulquiorra, one taken by Ulquiorra from the angle of it, the tiniest little smile visible on his face as Yammy appears to be yelling at the screen. They must have been playing  _ Overwatch _ given Yammy’s tendency to lose his mind every time one of their friends managed to beat him.

The last photo she cares to really look at is posted by Nel’s roommate’s boyfriend. Tesla has an account and  _ quite _ a following given how attractive he is, but Nnoitra refuses to use most social media outside of bitching on Twitter and so all of the pictures uploaded of him are ones Tesla has taken himself. This one looks to have been taken sometime during the day, the two of them walking along a snowy street together. Tesla chose the perfect moment, with Nnoitra’s head tipped toward the sky, snowflakes dotting his long black hair.

Everyone is so  _ happy. _ She needs to endeavor to relax and let herself enjoy this trip because once they have to go back home, it might be a while before they can come up here again. So when Sung-Sun returns to the kitchen, evidently successful in her efforts to build fires, Orihime opens up her camera and turns toward her, holding up her phone.

“Hmm?” Sung-Sun leans down to look, then smiles. “Ah, do you want to take a selfie together? Did you see the one I posted of your girl? She’s so cute when she sleeps.”

“She is. And yeah, maybe with our coffee mugs?” Orihime asks, holding hers up.

Sung-Sun looks thoughtful. “Let’s switch sides of the table so the backdrop is the trees. The lighting is going to be so pretty. We’ll both look absolutely radiant.”

They switch sides and settle in close together with their mugs in front of them, raising them to their lips as Orihime lifts her phone to catch the perfect angle and lighting. With her practice, she manages to snap an excellent picture with one a few seconds of tilting her phone, pleased with the results. Skipping the filters, she does do a few quick edits, mostly just to increase the brightness and the contrast a touch to make it more dramatic. Everything else about the picture seems perfectly fine to her.

“I’m going to make pancakes this morning, I think,” Sung-Sun says, rising to her feet. “I’m going to set up the griddle and get out the ingredients, and then I’ll teach you.”

Orihime posts the picture with a cutesy little caption about waking up in a personal cafe and the pockets her phone to join Sung-Sun in the kitchen. The griddle is huge but Sung-Sun sets it up with relative ease, plugging it in and setting to heat while she lines up the ingredients and picks out a few large mixing bowls. There is so much that Orihime feels out of her depth, trying to remember back to high school and how she cooked. Most of that had been intuition, and her intuition had never been quite great.

“Pancakes are easy, I swear.” Sung-Sun picks up a set of measuring cups and spoons, walking through the process of measuring them out, leveling them off as she goes. “So you’re going to whisk together the dry ingredients while I do the wet, and then I’ll show you how to fold them in properly. You can do the second batch.”

“What about those?” Orihime asks her, eyeing the fruits laid out.

Sung-Sun smiles up at her, leaning past her to start turning on stove eyes. “So, we’re going to make a few different toppings. What do you like? I know what my ladies love.”

Whisking dry ingredients together turns out not to be too difficult at all, and Orihime watches carefully as Sung-Sun folds in the ingredients into a batter for the pancakes. While they simmer and bubble on the griddle, Sung-Sun walks her through the process of preparing the toppings: Simmering berries, chopping strawberries to dust with brown sugar, heating up chocolate mixed with cream and honey in the microwave. When Sung-Sun lays a few strips of bacon in a pan, Orihime cocks her head at her.

“Nel told me you like salty and sweet, so I’m going to make your toppings,” she says, and Orihime cocks her head at all. “Bacon and pecans and maple syrup. You’re going to love it.”

“Just the sound of that is already making me hungry,” Orihime admits, and her stomach rumbles in sympathy. Both of them stop, then laugh.

She sets the table while Sung-Sun flips pancakes, bringing plates to her as needed to stack up pancakes, helping drip and drizzle the toppings as necessary. By the time Sung-Sun brings her plate to the table, insistent she be the one to do it, the others have slowly started spilling downstairs, claiming coffee for themselves and rubbing sleep out of their eyes. Nel is the last one to join them, looking petulant, though the way she perks at the sight of pancakes makes Orihime feel warm and fuzzy all over. She’s so  _ sweet. _

“Good morning, light of my life.” Nel bounds across the kitchen to her, as if invigorated by the promise of hot food. “Did you help make breakfast? I’m shaking.”

“Sung-Sun taught me how to make the perfect pancakes,” Orihime tells her, and Nel whistles before swooping in to steal a good morning kiss like she always does.

This time, she leans back, licking her lips, a curious expression in her bright hazel eyes. “I’m tasting so many wild things. Berries and chocolate and honey. Were you tasting?”

“It’s always important to taste your food to make sure it’s up to standard. A very important rule I learned in the kitchen.” Sung-Sun pours herself and Orihime the last of the vanilla cappuccino coffee. “Let’s sit down and eat. It’s good and hot, and Hime, I want to see the look on your face when you take the first bite of my perfect creation.”

Orihime sits down at the table, giggling as she watches the others argue over coffee creamer and sugar and milk at the counter before they all join her and Sung-Sun at the table. She has the perfect view of the trees from her place and Nel sits next to her, reaching under the table to give her knee a squeeze. With her hair still softly tousled from sleep and in one of her favorite oversized sweatshirts, Nel looks so cute and soft and Orihime wants to snuggle up with her on the couch in the den.

“Thank you for cooking for us, Sung-Sun,” Mila Rose says, cutting into her pancakes.

Sung-Sun smiles, presses her fingers to her lips. “Hime helped me. You should thank her.”

“A woman after my own heart,” Apacci says sagely as she takes a bite of her pancakes— the strawberries are hers, and she moans  _ loudly _ at the taste. “This is fucking superb.”

“Thank you, Orihime,” Halibel says, and Mila Rose makes a loud noise of agreement around a mouthful of mixed berry compote. “You are a goddess. I know Sung-Sun can be absolutely unbearable in the kitchen and yet you braved that to do this for us anyway.”

Rolling her eyes, Sung-Sun leans over her own untouched plate. “Hime?”

Orihime picks up her fork, studying the pancakes in front of her, the crispy bits of bacon and the fragrant pecans all dripping with maple syrup, the fluffy soft pancakes. She cuts herself a piece, making sure all of the toppings are present on it, and brings it to her lips. For a moment, she is speechless. The salty of the bacon and the pecans contrasts so perfectly with the syrup and the pancake and her eyes flutter shut as the flavors explode across her palette, moaning so loudly she even startles herself a little.

Flushing furiously, she chews, ducking her head. When she peeks at Sung-Sun through her bangs, she can see Sung-Sun’s eyes have widened, her mouth falling open just a touch. “Sorry,” she says quickly. “It’s just so  _ good. _ I’ve never had something as good as this.”

“It’s fine.” Sung-Sun’s hand flutters toward her throat and this time, she blushes. It slinks down from her hairline, all the way down her throat. “Now that I know you like food so much, I’m going to keep you locked up here and feed you gourmet food every day.”

“That sounds like heaven. You don’t have to lock me up at all,” Orihime tells her.

Breakfast is stressless and Orihime likes how warm the kitchen feels, how the conversation flows so easily and how happy Nel looks sitting next to her, tearing through her chocolate banana pancakes like an insatiable beast. Sung-Sun anticipated how hungry everyone would be, making a comment or two about certain physical activities taking a lot out of everyone that had Orihime giggling while she helped take up pancakes and drizzle syrup and chocolate sauce. By the time they all finish their plates, everyone is full and Mila Rose even slumps back in her eat, looking warm and content all the way through.

“Here’s to our goddesses of the kitchen,” Apacci says, raising her mug. “Willing to get up earlier than any of us want to and making us amazing breakfast. We’ll clean up, of course.”

“Of course,” Nel says, raising her own mug, and Orihime smiles and ducks her head.

While the others clean up the kitchen and put away the clean dishes to load the dishwasher once more, Sung-Sun takes Orihime by the hand and leads her into the den, already toasty warm from the fire in the hearth. She sits down on the couch and pats the spot beside her with a hopeful little smile that makes Orihime’s heart beat a little faster as she sits down next to her, giggling when Sung-Sun throws her arms around her shoulders, pressing loud, smacking kisses to her cheek.

“Thanks so much,” she says, cuddling up against her. “I love cooking and I don’t mind but it was fun getting to teach you and totally worth it to see the look on your face.”

Orihime dares to lean over, pecking her on the lips. “I had fun learning. And the pancakes were amazing. If all of your cooking is as good as dinner and breakfast, I’m yours.”

“That’s so good to know.” Sung-Sun blinks at her a few times, then runs her tongue over her lips, a quick sweep of a motion. “Can I kiss you for real? That tempted me.”

“Of course.” Orihime turns to her and then Sung-Sun is there, delicate hands cradling her cheeks, holding her still as she brings their lips together gently.

Sung-Sun is not as forceful or as fervent as Halibel and Apacci, the quality of her kisses slower and more measured, testing the waters but no less passionate. Orihime finds herself with her back pressed against the couch and Sung-Sun carefully knelt above her with no realization of how they ended up in the position, a nervous little laugh leaving her lips when Sung-Sun leans away with a pleased smile on her face. She tastes of vanilla, sweet with just the tiniest hint of bitter coffee beneath the sugar.

“Your lips are better than any of my pancake toppings,” she muses. “I wonder if I can capture that quality with my flavors or not. Would you like to watch a movie this morning? I’m feeling rather lazy after eating such a warm and filling meal.”

They pick a romcom and Orihime settles in against her to watch it, smiling broadly when Nel comes bounding into the room a few minutes later to curl up at her side, arms thrown around her waist. Now this is how she wants to spend a lazy morning, her back resting against Nel’s chest while Sung-Sung’s hands curl around her ankles, fingers lazily massaging there while she focuses on the screen. It feels nice and Orihime feels so content just like this, watching as the other three file into the room and decide where they want to sit.

Apacci takes a chair, kicking her feet up on the footstool, looking happily relaxed as she tucks an arm behind her head. Instead of picking any furniture, Mila Rose stretches out on the plush furry rug spread between the couch and the chair, and Halibel comes to lay down with her, head resting on her stomach, eyes drifting shut when Mila Rose sifts her fingers through Halibel’s hair. Distantly, Orihime wonders if Halibel and Apacci are as exhausted as she feels after last night. They’d done most of the work but they  _ wanted _ to, keeping her caught up in a torrent of sensation where it only built higher and higher before flooding her, giving her hardly any time to compose herself before it built once more.

“Did you have fun last night?” Nel asks her, fingers combing through her hair. “I saw you head up with them and I was so hoping you were going to have a fun night.”

“I did,” Orihime reassures her, smiling when Nel kisses her on the top of the head. “It would have been more fun if you were there, though. I hope you had fun last night.”

Nel laughs softly above her. “Oh, I did, believe me. I almost just stayed in bed, but then I realized that my perfect girlfriend was downstairs and I wanted to come check on her.”

The concern makes Orihime’s heart thud and she rests a hand on the arm Nel has around her waist. “You’re such a good girlfriend, wanting to check up on me like that.”

“That’s just what a good girlfriend  _ should _ do,” Nel corrects her, and Orihime smiles softly as she tilts her head back to look up at her. “So I’m just being a good partner for you in all honesty. That’s a standard you should definitely have. And if you want me in the bedroom tonight… You know you don’t even have to ask. It’s one of my favorite places.”

Orihime giggles and nods, settling back into the warmth of her embrace, content to rest here for the time being, half-paying attention to the movie but what matters is how warm she feels, how safe and comfortable. She had initially worried so much about getting here but now that she is here… Something about it feels almost natural, like this is where they, of course, would have ended up. And now that she’s calmed down somewhat and has Nel near again, she can look at last night a little more logically. Halibel and Apacci had been wonderful to her because they wanted to be with her, not because of anything else.

Maybe she does need to work on getting out of her head just a little bit more.

Sung-Sun only leaves the couch when she says it’s time to make hot chocolate and returns with a tray about fifteen minutes later, passing out mugs topped with whipped cream and shaved chocolate that has Orihime sitting up in interest immediately. The chocolate is warm and rich and thick on her tongue and she kicks her feet a little at just how good it tastes, swiping her fingers through the whipped cream to taste it. Sung-Sun’s smile for her is warm as she sits down next to her once more, clearly pleased by her reaction.

After the movie, Apacci leans down to smack Mila Rose on the leg, demanding her help in going out to salt the driveway and the deck and front porch to make sure they can get out safely if they have to. Mila Rose protests but does eventually follow her out, the two loudly bickering the entire way while Sung-Sun only rolls her eyes. Halibel laughs, tucking her arms behind her head, her cup of hot chocolate empty at her elbow. Orihime chuckles and curls up against Nel once more, who welcomes the contact with a soft kiss on the cheek. It’s pretty much been the perfect morning as far as Orihime is concerned.

Halibel looks up at her, her expression thoughtful as she traces a finger along her own lower lip. When she speaks, her voice is warm and husky. “I want to try something.”

“Oh?” Orihime sets her empty mug aside, leaning down. “What did you have in mind?”


	5. sharp

Halibel, as it turns out, has a walk-in closet in her bedroom and invites Orihime inside without a second thought, arm curled around her shoulder and a small, secretive little smile on her face. The clos haset a light switch that she flicks and Orihime jumps when she sees herself reflected back at her through the mirror positioned across from the doorway. It has no frame but appears to be mounted on the wall, which must make getting ready far easier. Halibel never even has to leave her closet to pull it off.

“Another reason we need different bedrooms is closet space,” she says patiently, her hands moving to Orihime’s hands as she guides her to a chair set in front of the mirror. “When I met Sung-Sun for the first time, I had twice as many clothes as she did. Now, I have more clothing here to myself than the rest of them combined.”

“Fucking Christ, Hal, why?” Nel demands, walking through the closet, running her fingers along the wall of fabrics. “You get dolled up often enough to need all of us?”

“You’d be surprised how many of my clients like to meet in person. I try to be prepared for whatever image of me that they have.” Halibel runs her fingers through Orihime’s hair, gathering the weight of it in her hands. “Can I do your hair, or do you  mind?”

Startled, Orihime shakes her head. “I don’t mind. But you don’t have to. You—”

“My first job was working in a salon. I never really lost my touch for it, and you have such pretty hair.” Halibel combs her fingers through it and Orihime blushes at her touch, wondering if she has a large amount of split ends. After all, she never— “What do you use in it to keep it this soft and shiny? It’s very beautiful, very full and healthy.”

Orihime shoves her hands between her thighs, squeezing them there. She can see her own flush reflected back at her. “I don’t, really? Ulquiorra buys the shampoo, and I usually just use his. We tried doing different shampoos but there wasn’t a lot of shelf space.”

“Tell him the next time you speak to him that he has good taste in hair products.” Halibel removes the hair band, keeping it around her wrist as she picks at a few knots in the ends of Orihime’s hair, somehow coaxing them free without having to yank on them. “I’m going to put your hair up in a chignon, and then I want to see what some of my clothes look like on you. Your bust size is large like mine, so I think they just might fit you.”

Nel laughs softly, pulling out the skirt of what appears to be a black dress that shimmers in the light above them. “I’m sure that’s the first thing you thought when you saw her bust size last night up close and personal, right?  _ Wow, she’ll look nice in my clothes. _ ”

“You’re horrid. I’ve thought it for a while now.” Halibel scowls at her, and Nel just sticks her tongue out, a playful little smile curving up the corners of her mouth.

Her hands in Orihime’s hair are gentle and she picks a brush out of a nearby set of drawers, plucking it from the top drawer. “I hope you really don’t mind the fact that I’m essentially playing dress-up with you, my dear. I wanted to surprise the others.”

“Are you going to do the same for Nel?” Orihime asks her, looking into her eyes through the mirror, not wanting to move her head while Halibel is working on her.

“That’s the plan. You would be surprised how easy it is to work them up with nothing more than clothing.” Halibel winks at her and Orihime giggles. She can imagine Halibel doing that, dressing herself up nicely to make sure her girlfriends notice her efforts. “I have just about everything from summer wear to winter wear, as well as—”

“Oh, I  _ like _ this.” Nel picks a hanger off of a rack and Orihime glances at her, her mouth falling open on a small sound when she realizes it’s lingerie.

She knows enough about lingerie to recognize the set as what it is, an emerald green corset top with skinny black straps and transparent panels on the sides, black lace decorating the green to pull the look together. Stockings are clipped to the corset and when Nel nudges the corset up a little farther, the matching panties are made visible. Orihime’s face warms when she sees the laces on the sides, imagining how easy it would be to get a woman out of them just by two little tugs of thin fabric.

Halibel smirks at Nel. “Green is one of my favorite colors. I think it brings out the green in your hair. Do you want to try it on? I wouldn’t complain, all things considered.”

“Absolutely.” And without warning, Nel shucks her sweatshirt, giving Orihime an eyeful of her bare upper torso. She hasn’t been wearing a bra this morning, which Orihime had gleaned long ago considering she’d spent about fifteen minutes or so using Nel’s chest as her pillow. There was certainly enough of it to afford her the space.

Nel undresses in the closet like she’s done this a thousand times before, wriggling out of her pants and her own panties before she filches the green and black laces one from beneath the corset. Orihime feels her color rise while she watches, not sure what else she can do given Halibel is still working on her hair and Nel is absolutely not paying any attention to her while she dresses herself. She does frown toying with the panties though before she looks up, catching Orihime staring at her.

“Do you think you can help me tie these?” she asks. “I can’t get them comfortable enough.”

Orihime swallows and nods as carefully as she can. “Sure. You’re going to have to come to me, though, I don’t want to move and disturb Halibel’s work.”

“Fair enough.” Nel walks up to her, and Orihime can see her nearly-bare ass in the mirror.

It was ridiculous to think of herself as a  _ virgin _ before she met Nel because she’d lost her virginity to her first girlfriend, but there was a difference in the way she looked at Nel and acted with Nel that made it seem true. After all, Nel was the first woman who really caught her eye in such a way— She’d been dressed in a ripped-up tank top when they met and her black lace bra was visible through the thin white cotton. Her bubbly personality contrasted so neatly with the flirty little glances she sent Orihime that she spent the entire first hour certain she was reading into Nel being friendly in her direction.

Careful of Halibel behind her, Orihime helps Nel tie the sash of the panties so that they settle comfortably on her wide hips, admiring the way the dark colors contrast with her soft skin. “There you go. The color looks really nice on you.”

“Thank you, baby.” Nel steps away to retrieve the corset, unclipping the stockings so she can step into the corset top. With breasts as large as hers, stepping into quite a few dresses works out better for her than pulling them over her head, after all.

The corset type fits her well enough, but she still ends up perched on Orihime’s knees so she can adjust the straps for her so that they fit her properly and give her the necessary support instead of being too tight. Her skin is warm through the lace and Orihime wants to touch her so badly she can almost feel Nel’s thighs under the palms of her hands.

When Nel stands, Halibel steps away from the chair, hands up. “Done,” she says, a triumphant smile on her lips. “You look so positively mature like this, Orihime.”

She glances up in the mirror and makes a small admiring noise, standing and walking toward it so she can take a closer look at the way Halibel tied her hair back so that a few wispy strands were left behind. Halibel produces a smaller mirror so she can look at the elegant knot at the back of her head and she smiles, turning her head this way and that to get different angles. When she’s satisfied, she turns and stands up on her toes so she can peck Halibel on the lips, giggling when Halibel’s hands slide into the curve of her waist.

“You’re so beautiful.” Halibel’s fingers slip beneath her jaw, tilting it up so she can kiss her again, slower and more carefully, moving her lips against Orihime’s in a tender rhythm.

“Thank you.” Orihime turns when Nel sits down in the chair, watching her slide the stockings up her thighs, adjusting the seams on her toes and then standing so she can clip them to the corset. “You look sexy, Nel. Are you going to keep it on all day?”

Nel perches her hands on her hips, coming to stand in front of the mirror. “I  _ do _ look sexy,” she muses, petting down one of her thighs, fingers picking at where the lace of the stocking lays. “Hal, can I? Can you put me in something so that this’ll be comfy still?”

“You’d be surprised how little you’ll notice it under clothes as time goes on,” Halibel tells her, hands rising to adjust the straps, smoothing the lace against Nel’s chest, “but yes, of course I can. Every piece of lingerie I own can be worn under just about anything that doesn’t outwardly show it. It’s how I surprise the girls. They never know what’s under it.”

Orihime remembers the expression on Halibel’s face last night when she’d finally seen the bra Orihime wore for her. “I know what you mean. Can I wear some of your lingerie, too?”

“Absolutely. In fact, after last night, I’m definitely encouraging it.” Halibel’s eyes are dark, hot, almost  _ smoldering _ as she guides Nel to sit down so she can do her hair.

That earns a curious glance from Nel, but Orihime only winks at her as she turns to Halibel’s large collection of lingerie, fingers brushing over the fabric as she tries to pick one out that she likes. There are plenty of colors to choose from and she flusters herself just a little imagining what it would be like to see Halibel in any of this given she definitely bought all of it to wear herself. Her fingers brush over something soft and baby pink and she stops, moving the hangers so she can see more clearly what she’s found. The fabric is soft enough to tempt her, given she’ll likely be wearing it until tonight.

Well, maybe  _ not _ until tonight, but she’s planning for what she expects. It might be earlier, she thinks, and the thought makes her press her thighs together as she thinks about it.

The babydoll is thin and transparent, her fingers brushing over the cups to confirm that they would give her enough support to justify wearing it as a bra. This is worse than her lace from last night because this would hide  _ nothing,  _ especially when she can see her entire hand through it when she stretches it out to look at it. There are a pair of ruffly matching panties underneath it and that decides her because it’s just too  _ cute. _

Nel changed right in front of her so Orihime does the same, humming softly to herself as she folds up her clothes and sets them aside, wiggling into the panties and stepping into the babydoll. It has adjustable straps but Halibel was right. Their bust size was be similar because Orihime only has to adjust them minutely, something she can do without assistance. A glance in the mirror confirms what she had already known, able to see everything through the fabric. Well, it’ll be underneath other clothing, and she imagines that someone like Apacci would appreciate the way it looks on her.

It looks  _ sexy _ and Orihime’s mind wanders off just a little, trying to imagine what someone like Sung-Sun might think of this if she saw it. What would she say?

“That’s very pretty on you,” Halibel tells her, and the slightly breathless quality of her voice has Orihime smiling as she turns to look at her. “Just wait patiently for a moment while I finish Nel’s hair and I’ll find you something to wear with it.”

“We should take pictures when we’re all dressed up,” Nel tells her, swinging her legs back and forth while Halibel runs the brush through her hair, gathering it up in sections. “I saw your picture on Insta this morning, it was so cute. Oh my god, did you see  _ Nnoitra? _ ”

“He’s going to be furious. He’s going to demand Tesla take it down,” Orihime admits sagely.

Nel giggles and nods, running her hands over the soft silk of the stockings. “That’s what I said when I commented on it. Oh, and Yammy’s face, my God. He was  _ pissed. _ ”

“That’s what he gets for maining Roadhog all the time,” Orihime says primly, and Nel smiles, the tip of her tongue poking from between her teeth. “I tell him it’s bound to happen every time. Ulquiorra has told him not to do it, and yet.”

“I think Yammy’s always a little jealous when Ulquiorra and Starrk are flirting while they play,” Nel says before her gaze darts to Halibel’s in the mirror. “Hal, Ulquiorra mains Hanzo and Starrk mains McCree, and since everyone who plays  _ Overwatch _ and cares ships them, they have to flirt to keep up the cred. You should join us sometime.”

Halibel shakes her head. “I’ve never played, but Apacci does. She mains Widowmaker.”

“Ugh, her mind,” Nel says. “I main Symmetra. Orihime dropped Mei for Sombra and now all we do is make everyone else miserable when we play together.”

“You could always play while you’re here, I know she’s got her console set up in the den because she says the darker lighting lets her see better.” Halibel rolls her eyes and Orihime giggles, taking her turn at looking through Halibel’s extensive collection of clothing. “I have no idea, honestly, but she’s a game developer now, so I guess she needs to know as much as humanly possible. And she says it’s one of the better games.”

Nel shrugs a shoulder. “I don’t know about specs honestly, I just know we all like the lore and the gameplay and we have a hell of a lot of fun. Even Szayel has fun when he plays with us. He says Moira’s a fucking dream come true considering he  _ loves _ science so much.”

“He’s going to be a mad scientist one day, I keep telling you,” Orihime says, running her fingers over a sundress of soft white cotton, imagining what it would look like on Halibel, with the sun beaming down on her. A  _ goddess _ for sure. “This is just step one. So when we turn up at his apartment and he’s turned Yylfordt into some kind of  _ monster _ —”

“As  _ if, _ ” Nel says. “Have you seen Yylfordt? He’s twice as heavy as Szayel with pure muscle and Szayel is just a broad-shouldered twink so he doesn’t have a chance.”

Orihime gives her a look. “He could knock Yylfordt out, you don’t know. Put something in one of his protein shakes. He already can’t tell you what’s in most of them because he makes them on autopilot and just shoves whatever in there. Remember when we were over at his place and Szayel made one for him and he drank it anyway?”

Nel’s eyes widen in horror. “Oh god, you’re right. He’s going to turn Yylfordt into a science project. Dibs on being the one who takes a selfie with his mutilated body first.”

When Halibel finishes with Nel’s hair, her turquoise curls have been tamed into a messy bun that looks elegant just the same, leaving the swan’s length of her throat exposed. It’s  _ beautiful _ and Halibel smiles proudly as she helps her look at it, Nel squealing and throwing her arms around her to kiss her. She doesn’t have to stretch and Orihime pouts because it isn’t  _ fair, _ she wants to be as tall as they are. Maybe she needs heels.

“So, let’s look for clothing,” Halibel says. “Have to make sure these naughty surprises of yours stay surprises until you’re ready, but that should be easy. If we’re going to hide the stockings, you probably need actual pants, Nel. Are you fine with that?”

“Pants are fine,” Nel says, giving her a double thumbs up as she turns to rifle through clothes once more, humming loudly to herself as she does. She’s so  _ cute _ .

Halibel knows her closet better than either of them do and before Orihime can find something, Halibel approaches her with a long red dress, the top of it lined with a soft ruffled black lace that has her turning to inspect it. The straps mean the straps of the babydoll will be visible, but the straps are black and conspicuous, so she doubts anyone is going to think anything of it. They just look like bra straps on her shoulders.

“This color on you,” Halibel tells her, letting Orihime run her fingers over the soft silk material. “I don’t want to put a shirt on you because that fabric is so soft and flowing and pinning it still might make it difficult to move around. This will be easier on you.

“It’s so  _ pretty. _ It seems too nice to just wear around the house,” Orihime protests.

To her surprise, Halibel only smirks at her, giving her head a shake. “No, princess, this is perfect. I don’t mind wearing nice clothes around the house, and my girls are going to take one look at you in this and swoon. Especially Apacci. She eats this up.”

That has Orihime nodding, accepting the dress from Halibel. “Okay, I’ll wear it. Honestly, I think this is the most expensive dress I’ll ever have worn. Thank you!”

Halibel kisses her on the temple and moves to help Nel, giving Orihime time to remove the dress from the hanger and slip into it. The dress is form-fitting enough to be flattering but doesn’t flatten the babydoll against her skin, making it just as comfortable as Halibel said it was. And yet again, she notices that the dress fits comfortably across her chest, which means their bust sizes really  _ are _ similar. How had she just known that off-hand?

Halibel dresses Nel in a white button-down and a pair of black pants with a matching black blazer, chuckling softly as she tugs everything into place. “You look so sharp, Nel,” she murmurs, leaning in to kiss her on the corner of the mouth. “I feel like I should escort you to the door for your salaryman position. Make lots of money today, husband.”

“Could you imagine me as a salaryman? I’d get fired so fast.” Nel looks at herself in the mirror, though, and smirks, smoothing her hands down the front of the shirt. “Well, I kind of love it, actually. Do you dress up like this when it’s time to be a serious businesswoman? I bet you do. I bet you look so good when you’re all dressed up like this.”

“Have you ever seen me look anything  _ but _ good?” Halibel asks her, hands propped on her hips before she turns to Orihime. “Ah, and our princess looks like a queen like this.”   


“Come stand next to me,” Nel says, offering her arm. “I want to see us together.”

Before she quite makes it, Halibel stops her, retrieving a pair of black strappy heels from a shelf of shoes. “Here, these should complete the look. Nel already told me your shoe size, and no, I’m not going to tell you why I was asking for it in the first place.”

All Orihime can manage is a playful pout before she steps into the shoes, letting Halibel buckle them for her before she takes Nel’s arm and comes to stand next to her. The heels do a good job to erase a chunk of the height difference between them and Orihime giggles at how good they look together, letting her head rest on Nel’s shoulder. They look like a proper, well-dressed and well-off couple and Nel preens, turning her head this way and that, clearly happy with their appearances. Orihime does like to look pretty, of course; her friends have always joked she’s a princess in more than just her name, after all.

Nel tilts her head, her lips brushing against Orihime’s ear. “You look so pretty, baby. I’m going to save up and buy you a whole bunch of pretty dresses like this one.”

“Don’t do that,” Orihime says, giving her arm a gentle smack. “I can buy my own clothes. You should buy more get-ups like this one, though. You’ve never looked so good.”

Huffing laughter, Nel turns to look at her, trying to look tough but failing miserably every time she slips and smiles. “Yeah? You telling me my ratty tank tops and sweatpants aren’t sexy enough for you? I’ll just have to get rid of them and get new nice clothes. You might have to deal with me walking around with no pants until I can save up that money.”

“Wow, you in no pants,” Orihime says, hand fluttering to her chest. “How will I  _ survive? _ ”

“Let’s go show the girls how nice you look,” Halibel says, taking one of their hands in each of hers. “It sounds like Apacci and Mila Rose have come back in.”


	6. the moon

To the surprise of no one, Apacci and Mila Rose  _ very much _ appreciate the wardrobe change, and Nel spends quite a bit of the rest of the day prancing around the house trying to act like their collective husband. Which Apacci challenges her in, the two of them loudly play arguing in the den about how worth it it might be to go out and settle this with a game of football. Orihime laughs until her ribs ache and Sung-Sun hides her soft giggling behind the sleeve of her shirt, her lavender eyes sparkling with amusement as she shakes her head at them. Mila Rose only loudly groans and leaves the room when they argue louder.

Orihime finds herself in the living room with Mila Rose that evening after dinner, lounging on the couch with another glass of wine, staring up at the moon clear and high in the sky. Nel insisted on carrying Sung-Sun upstairs to her room, where she had gone squealing, and as far as Orihime knows, Halibel and Apacci are still in the den while Apacci plays  _ Smash _ and Halibel watches her. The game was always fun but Orihime wanted a little peace and quiet and headed into the living room, the fire crackling softly in the hearth and moonlight spilling through the large window that reveals the road leading down the mountain.

“Having a quiet moment, Hime?” Mila Rose asks her, sitting down on the coffee table in front of her, an elbow propped on her knee and her chin resting in the palm of her hand. “I don’t blame you. They’re all terrible to live with and I don’t know how you can stand any of them. I would have gone insane and taken myself out by this point.”

Giggling, Orihime shakes her head, sipping from the wine in her glass. “No, you’re all really lovely. I just like the quiet sometimes. I’m used to it back home, Ulqui’s really quiet.”

Mila Rose nods, tucking a long spiral of chestnut hair back behind her ear. The silver light above them makes her brown skin shine, shows up golden flecks in her green eyes. “I can understand that. I  _ used _ to like peace and quiet, but you can’t get that with Apacci.”

“You’re all so funny.” Orihime sets her glass down on the table and sits up, rubbing a hand up and down the back of her neck. “But you’re so happy together. It’s really sweet.”

“Yeah? I was thinking that seeing you and Nel snuggling together on the couch.” Mila Rose winks at her before her eyes drop down. “So I’ve been wanting to ask this all day, but did Halibel drag you two up to her closet and dress you up? Because I know this dress pretty well. It was the first one I ever took off of her, after all.”

The comment has Orihime’s face warming but she nods, running her fingers over the soft lace at the top of the crimson. “She did. She picked this dress out for me to wear.”

“So she was trying to drive us all crazy on purpose. I should have known.” Mila Rose stretches a hand out, traces her fingers over the rise of Orihime’s knee against the skirt. “You were with her and Apacci last night, but now I’ve got you all to myself. What do you say to me taking this dress off of you? They’re in the next room and won’t even know.”

“Putting it on just to get it taken off was kind of the point…” Orihime stretches one leg out, resting her foot on Mila Rose’s knee with a small smile. “My feet are kind of sore. Why don’t you take the shoes off first? And then you can work your way up.”

Mila Rose looks thoughtful, running her fingers over one of the straps, and Orihime shivers when she feels the slightest brush of bare skin against her own. “I have an even better idea,” she says, and she hits her knees on the floor so hard it makes Orihime jump.

Strong hands catch in the bends of her knees and pull her to the edge of the couch, and she slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle her own startled reaction sound. Mila Rose smirks deviously up at her, hands slipping up under the skirt of the dress, tugging it away from her skin until she can feel those hands on her thighs and roaming up, pausing when they brush the soft transparent material of the babydoll. Her eyes spark with curiosity but she only nudges that up, fingers tracing over the ruffles on the panties.

“You can leave the dress on for now,” Mila Rose tells her, fingers hooking in the waistband of the panties, tugging them down just a centimeter. “But let me have these.”

It feels  _ scandalous _ but Orihime lifts her hips just enough for Mila Rose to take the panties, squeaking when she dangles them from the tips of her fingers for Orihime to see them. “You’re the  _ worst. _ What are you going to do with them?”

“I’m going to keep them.” Mila Rose folds them neatly, then shoves them into the back pocket of her jeans, laughing at the way Orihime gapes at her.

She falls back against the couch when Mila Rose pushes the skirt up around her waist, the fabric of the couch almost rough against her skin in comparison to the silk of the dress and panties. Though she and Nel have played together more times than she can count, having a woman twice as strong as her manhandling her like this even on her knees makes Orihime feel all kinds of turned on. She had almost forgotten about the lingerie because it was just as comfortable as Halibel promised it would be, having too much fun twirling around in the dress and watching the girls stare at her. It made her feel strong.

“This color suits you,” Mila Rose tells her, settling between Orihime’s thighs, her hands dark against Orihime’s skin. “The heels are going to be the last thing I get you out of because you look too good in them. And maybe I have a thing for that.”

Orihime blushes and hides her face behind her hands. “As long as I don’t have to walk—”

“I’ll carry you.” Mila Rose winks up at her. “Now hold onto something, preferably me.”

She dips her head and presses her lips to the inside of Orihime’s thigh, tongue swiping over the skin there before she turns her head and presses wet, messy kisses to her folds. Though she hadn’t thought much about Halibel’s words after she and Nel left the bedroom with her to show off, Mila Rose’s little show has her already feeling a little too warm, a little too wet. The hands on her thighs press into her skin, fingers digging in to hold her still while Mila Rose licks up her slit, long and exaggerated motions that say she knows Orihime is watching her and is trying to give her a show.

Not that it’s easy to be critical of her performance given she’s going down on Orihime.

“You’re so pretty, you now.” Mila Rose runs her fingers through Orihime’s pubic hair, slides them down her folds and then spreads them open. “Like a real princess. It’s so cute when you get all flustered and start blushing and giggling. No wonder Halibel liked you so much.”

“Oh?” Orihime’s brain is fuzzy around the edges, her breathing a little stuttered as Mila Rose leans in, tongue tracing over the sensitive hood covering her clitoris, pressing against it enough that Orihime’s hips tremble. “H-has she said something about m-me?”

Mila Rose glances up at her, tongue flicking against her clit. “Hmm? After you did the video chat with her and Nel, she said she couldn’t  _ wait _ to see if you were as cute in person.”

Orihime squirms at the words and Mila Rose ducks her head, her tongue almost seeming to dance against Orihime’s skin, the tip of it tracing little patterns on her skin, her body trembling in response as her mouth falls open just a little. What is she  _ doing _ down there? It feels amazing. The uneven rhythm has her unable to pay attention to anything but Mila Rose’s tongue and her lips and the way her eyes glitter like she’s enjoying herself.

A finger traces along the indent of Orihime’s hip and down along the crease beside her mound, up along her inside of her labia and back down to run through the slickness gathering at her entrance. It almost embarrasses her how easy it is to turn her on, how fast her body reacts to stimuli but Mila Rose makes a noise like she’s pleased as she eases her finger in just to the first knuckle, the faint little stretch making Orihime’s pulse pound. Her hands tremble, needing something to hold onto, and she remembers Mila Rose’s words, leaning forward to hold onto her shoulders as tightly as she can.

“That’s my girl.” Mila Rose turns, presses a kiss to her forearm and Orihime squeaks when she sees her skin damp beneath that. “Now hold on tight because I’m not going slow.”

Her tongue keeps tracing patterns against Orihime’s clit as he presses her finger in deeper, curling it inside of her, rubbing up against so many sensitive nerves that Orihime is trembling within minutes, her mouth falling open as she squeezes her eyes shut. It’s so quick, how the pleasure builds inside of her especially when Mila Rose presses her finger up, rubbing up against her g-spot like she’s always known where it is.

“The way you tighten around me is so cute.” Mila Rose winks at her, drags her tongue over Orihime’s clit in one long, wet lick before she goes back to those small patterns.

Naturally, Orihime is loud. Tonight, she presses a hand to her mouth and tries to stay as quiet as possible, the thrill of getting caught too much of a temptation to willingly let go of. She can hear Apacci yelling at the screen in the other room, only a few seconds’ walk away, and the low tone of Halibel telling her to calm down. Above her, she can just faintly hear what sounds like Nel moaning, though she could be wrong about that.

In the living room, the only sound she can pick up over the frantic beating of her own heart are the lewd, wet noises Mila Rose makes with her mouth. She exaggerates everything, every swipe of her tongue and every long, slow lick until Orihime can feel her eyes trying to roll back in her head. A second finger joins the first and Mila Rose massages her g-spot, giggling softly against her before flicking her tongue several times in quick succession.

“You close?” Mila Rose asks her, pressing up hard against her spot and grinning when Orihime squeals against the palm of her hand, pressing it tight to her lips to muffle the sound. “I feel like you are. I can feel you getting tighter around my fingers.”

Orihime nods frantically from behind her hand, shuddering all over, her skin sensitive all over so that the dress and the babydoll feel like too much, too warm. Despite her best efforts not to thrash around and risk making too much noise, her hair is starting to fall out of its twist, curling against the nape of her neck and tickling her.

“That’s good.” Mila Rose kisses the side of her knee, her mouth showing up slick and shiny in the moonlight. She presses her fingers up again and Orihime trembles, caught on the very edge of an orgasm but not quite there, not yet. “I’ve been working hard.”

Carefully, Orihime takes her hand away from her mouth, her voice soft and breathy and threatening to break at any moment. “It f-felt so g-good, Mila R-Rose.”

“Making pretty girls stutter is so good.” Mila Rose rubs up against her g-spot and Orihime slams her eyes shut, her body arched toward the oncoming orgasm.

And then Mila Rose takes her fingers away and it stops just like that.

_ What? _ Orihime blinks her eyes open slowly and looks down to find Mila Rose kneeling on the ground in front of her, a playful little smirk on her lips. The shiny wetness on her mouth trails down to her chin and her chest rises and falls a little faster as she catches her breath, but there is humor glittering in her eyes that confuses Orihime. Why did she stop? When she opens her mouth to ask, Mila Rose leans up on her knees, pressing a single finger to Orihime’s lips to quiet her. Frowning, she shuts her mouth.

“It’s easy to wind you up fast but it’s not as satisfying if it ends so soon.” Mila Rose winks at her, licks her fingers clean and then moves her hands back to Orihime’s waist. “Let’s get you out of this dress or you’re going to sweat through it by the time I’m done with you.”

“You’re talking about orgasm denial, aren’t you?” Orihime asks her, refusing to move.

Mila Rose smiles sunnily up at her, cocking her head. “I am. Are you interested in trying it? I promise you, I have plenty of restraint. And the end result is so worth it.”

“Okay.” If it’s worth it… Besides, Orihime has heard the orgasm is supposed to be more intense that way. She’s never tried it herself, Nel being a pretty big fan of immediate gratification herself, though she’s heard the odd wall punch when she made the mistake of coming to visit Nel on a day when Tesla and Nnoitra were catching up on missed sex.

“Trusting me, I like that.” Mila Rose stands to help her tug the dress up over her head, giving it a gentle shake before draping it over the arm of the couch. “Hal would kill me if I let anything happen to her dress anyway— What are you wearing under it?”

“This?” Orihime smiles up at her and knows the light has made the fabric extra sheer. “You should have seen it before, I imagine. It’s also something that belongs to Halibel.”

Mila Rose takes her time in kneeling back down on the floor, stealing one of the couch cushions to slip beneath her knees as she settles herself. “Now that you mention it, it does look familiar. Does that mean Nel was wearing something sexy under the blazer?”

“Of course she was. She had to wear pants to hide her stockings.” Orihime swallows a little harder when Mila Rose picks up one of her legs, draping it over her own shoulder.

“You can feel free to squeeze my head if you want to. The pressure doesn’t bother me at all.” From the way Mila Rose smirks up at her, Orihime doubts she would suffer  _ at all. _

Her hand slips beneath Orihime’s ass, pulling her just a little closer to the edge of the couch so that Orihime has to grip the back of it to feel like she’s not about to slide off at any second. Keeping her unbalanced seems to be part of the plan, though, and then Mila Rose dips her head, drags her tongue over Orihime’s sensitive folds. Giving her time to cool off from her almost-orgasm has helped but it still draws a small, startled noise from her throat to feel Mila Rose down there again, especially when she presses two fingers deep into her pussy with far less hesitation than she did the first time.

“You’re so sweet. Now I know why Apacci was telling me I was missing out when we were salting the outside of the house.” She dips the tip of her tongue inside beside her fingers and Orihime loses her breath, momentarily dazed. “I shouldn’t have let her hog you.”

“You had Nel last night, so you weren’t suffering that much.” And Orihime knows from experience just how much Nel excels when it comes to sex. Nel had broadened her horizons in more ways than one since they’d gotten together.

“I have two hands, don’t I?” Mila Rose smirks up at her, rubbing up against her g-spot until Orihime’s hips lift from the couch. “I could get you both off at the same time.”

The imagery of that alone is enough to push her close to the edge, the thought of Nel pressed up against her side, flushed and panting and helplessly loud because Nel has never been able to keep quiet no matter what the situation was. She bites down hard on her lower lip to keep herself quiet, panting softly against her palm, her thighs twitching and her hips aching until Mila Rose draws away from her once more.  _ Right _ when she was almost there, and she can’t help a frustrated little sound against her hand.

Mila Rose smirks up at her, presses a kiss to the side of her knee. “Not yet,” she says, and Orihime  _ knows _ , but it’s hard. “You can hold on for me a little longer, right?”

“Yes.” She doesn’t  _ want _ to but she can, her thighs trembling with how much she wants to come, how Mila Rose’s little smile grates on every part of her that is already raw and sensitive from stimulation. “I c-can keep going, I j-just—”

“Trust me.” Mila Rose kisses her thigh this time, her mouth climbing higher until her tongue smoothes over Orihime’s clit, hard and throbbing at this point.

Can she do anything but? Her chest heaves and she squeezes her eyes shut, trying to focus on her breathing, on anything but the slow and wet strokes of Mila Rose’s tongue between her thighs, fingers slipping back inside of her. A third slips in with the other two and she whines softly, her entire body quivering delicately like any small touch will be enough to completely destroy her. At this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if it could.

“You’re so close, I can feel it.” Mila Rose rubs up against her g-spot again and a little hiccuping noise slips from her lips. “Oh, that’s  _ cute.  _ Do you want to come this time, Hime?”

“Yes, please.” Orihime gasps when Mila Rose presses her fingers up, harder, rubbing in a slow circle that her hips try to match automatically. “ _ Please, _ I can’t… It’s too much—”

Mila Rose  _ hums _ against her and the vibration has her swallowing a small cry, struggling to stay quiet. “How can I tell you no when you ask so prettily? Just this once, I’ll be merciful.”

Her free hand rises up to grip Orihime’s hip and then it tightens, pinning her in place, holding her down while Mila Rose’s fingers work at a frantic, furious pace inside of her. The wet noises are louder now and Orihime squirms at the sound of them, choking on the sounds of her own gasps, her entire body trembling and shaking so much that she feels like the only thing holding her up on the couch is Mila Rose and her impeccable strength.

When she comes, it takes every part of her to stay quiet, her hand pressed against her mouth so hard her jaw aches. It doesn’t stop. The heat crashes over her and keeps going, keeps building until it feels like it’s doubling, tripling, leaving her thrashing the best she can in Mila Rose’s grip. And those fingers don’t stop moving until her entire body goes limp, all of her energy sapped from her body. Only then does Mila Rose let up, tongue still stroking gently over her inflamed flesh but not enough to make it hurt.

“Well, well,” a voice purrs, and Orihime jerks her eyes open to see Halibel and Apacci standing in the doorway, both of them staring at her. “That was quite the show you put on for us, Mila Rose. Did you really think we wouldn’t notice you were gone?”

“When Apacci’s busy, she doesn’t notice anything,” Mila Rose says, leaning back on her knees. “But I knew you would eventually. Did you have fun watching?”

“How long have you been standing there?” Orihime asks, her voice weak and blown.

Halibel’s smile is kind. “For quite a while, princess. You didn’t seem to notice us when your eyes were open, though. Mila Rose can be an experience that takes up all of your senses, so I’m hardly concerned. Would you like to go up to my bedroom?”

_ More? _ Orihime opens her mouth, not sure what to say, while Mila Rose sets her foot down gently on the floor, helping her out of the heels. “Yes,” she manages, her voice small, shy.

“That a girl. You tell us what you want and we’ll give it to you.” And when Mila Rose stands, she picks Orihime up like she weighs nothing, hands pressed up under her thighs.

There’s something about getting carried to the bedroom in nothing more than the babydoll nightie with Halibel and Apacci following them, both of them leaning in to whisper to each other every so often, that makes Orihime wonder if she can  _ possibly _ keep up with the three of them. But she can hear the soft echo of Nel’s cries in the hallway, a softer current of what sounds like Sung-Sun’s laughter, and decides she can at least try.

“I have a strap I want to use on you,” Mila Rose tells her, and Orihime’s mouth goes dry. “We’ll see if you can earn it.”


	7. Chapter 7

Nel makes it a point to follow Tesla’s Instagram account because he posts photos of Nnoitra there, and it tends to be the only time she gets to see him as anything less than his typical snarling, aggravating self. It used to bother her more than it does not, that being around her was such a chore for him that he tended to be only his worst self around her as if trying to keep her at as much of a distance as humanly possible. It wasn’t like they had grown up together in the same house, had been raised by the same father— not either of their biological fathers, but what can foster kids expect?

She knows why this is coming up in her mind this morning, nestled on the wide window frame overlooking the driveway and the road that twists down the mountain. Being in a house with this many people inevitably brings up the memories she tries hard not to think about if she can avoid it. There had been other foster homes before the permanent one, and there had been more cruel and endless memories than she wants to think of.

They always come back when she wants to put them behind her. She knows she should probably talk to a therapist, and her father had made an effort, promised her he would pay for it as long as she would go and get some measure of help, but she kept blowing him off. Got one degree and started working on another for lack of any direction in life. Spent too much time on dating and sex apps out of boredom and curiosity more than anything else, and there Halibel had been with her three girlfriends and those beautiful eyes.

Maybe Nel always picks at scabs and wounds just before they start to heal.

“Nelliel?” The sound of her full name has her tilting her head away from the snowfall even though she recognizes the voice. Halibel lingers in the doorway, two steaming mugs in hand. “I made hot chocolate. Would you like to tell me what’s wrong this morning?”

_ Morning. _ It doesn’t look like morning, not yet. The sky outside is still pitch black but Nel had a nightmare and couldn’t usually sleep after those, especially if Orihime was not in bed with her, so she came down here instead. She wonders how Halibel had known and chooses not to linger over it too much, hugging her knees to her chest to make more room.

“Sure. Not exactly a big proponent of therapy, but hey.” She smiles weakly, shrugs a shoulder, and tries to ignore the soft concern in the way Halibel frowns at her.

Everything about her is so achingly perfect as she walks over, dressed in a soft robe with what appears to be a slightly furry texture, passing her the mug. It makes her remember the first week she spent in her forever home, staying up way too late instead of sleeping, hugging her secrets as tightly to her chest as she could while her father made her cocoa and told her she could take as much time as she needed to heal.

_ Okay, best not to compare your new maybe-girlfriend to your father. Are you  _ trying _ to convince yourself you need therapy or what? _

“Thinking about home.” Nel twirls her cell phone before her fingers, the photo of Nnoitra in the snow still pulled up on the screen. “Thinking about my asshole bro— Roommate.”

“Brother,” Halibel says plainly, and she winces. “Why did you say roommate if you meant—”

Nel cuts her off, not wanting to play mind games tonight. She might as well be upfront. “Because we don’t tell anyone we’re siblings. I mean, technically, we’re not. We go through phases where we hate each other and refuse to admit we lived in the same house.”

In her mind’s eye, she can see her father’s disappointed frown, the slight incline of his head, no doubt wondering if he was responsible for the fact she and her brother had grown into such colossal fuck-ups. As if being raised in a house with everything they could have ever wanted and a father that genuinely loved them could make them turn out this way, as if it was not somehow ingrained in who they were as people.

“I see. I’ve no siblings of my own, but I imagine it can’t be easy.” Halibel sits across from her on the sill, sets her mug on the sill beside her thigh. “Is he older? Younger?”

“The same age,” Nel says, stretching out a finger, drawing a heart in the condensation on the glass. She draws several of them before realizing this isn’t her house and she could streak the windows, which is not exactly very guest-like of her.

Halibel cocks her head. “Twins? I suppose fraternal twins would make sense.”

“No. We aren’t related by blood. We were foster kids together.” And somehow she ended up protecting him somewhere along the line and he  _ hated _ her for it and she kind of hated herself for it, too, because he totally did not deserve it. “We kind of turned into a two for one deal, so when we ended up in a permanent home, we ended up together.”

“That makes sense. I’m sorry. It must be very difficult to handle a situation like that.” Halibel stretches out a hand, squeezes her knee, and Nel smiles faintly at her.

She catches a curl of her own hair, twirling it between her fingers. “I keep asking myself why it bothers me so much when he was such a fuckhead to me the entire time we were growing up, but it totally does bother me. Especially since we live together.”

“Maybe that’s not something you should be doing if the two of you don’t get along,” Halibel muses, and Nel thunks the back of her head against the frame behind her.

“No, you’re right,” she says, giving her own hair a little tug, “but we wanted to have an apartment for university, and then we got accepted to the same one, so it’s mostly built on convenience. Between me and him and his boyfriend, we can pay it off real easy.”

Halibel is silent for a long moment before she clears her throat softly, takes a sip of her cocoa. “I feel the need to ask so that I don’t allow a slip of the tongue. Does Orihime have any idea that this man is your brother, or does she believe he’s only your roommate?”

“She doesn’t know. We got into a massive fucking fight right before I brought her over for the first time and I just… Didn’t want to get into it? So I told her he was my roommate and he rolled with it.” She thinks Nnoitra would go the rest of his life happy if no one knew the two of them were anything other than living together out of necessity.

It wasn’t like their father would not have helped them find and pay for separate apartments, but after you ruin a man’s marriage, you start to feel too indebted to him.

“So when things like this happen, you don’t really have anyone to talk to about it.” Halibel gives her head a little shake, and Nel  _ gets _ why, but she doesn’t really like it, either.

“It’s not like I feel like I need to talk about it. I mean, shithead or not, he’s my brother and he’s always going to be. We still go back home to see Dad during holidays. Here, look.” She shuts Instagram off, opens up her gallery so she can pull up the pictures from this summer when they went home together to see their father for his birthday.

It looks like a fucking  _ joke, _ is the thing. Her hair tied back in a messy bun, dark eyeliner and lip stain, and Nnoitra was sporting almost the same fucking  _ bun _ because Tesla always did it for him right before they made the drive home. Together, to save gas, but also because it always made their father happy to see them together. Her crop top and his t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, both of them standing with an arm around their father, immaculately dressed and so handsome, so fucking  _ normal _ compared to them.

“This is… Quite a contrast. He’s very tall.” Halibel narrows her eyes down at the photo, brings it closer to her face. “How tall is he? Is he over six feet tall? He has to be.”

“Yeah. He’s over  _ seven _ feet tall, actually.” Nel still remembers when he hit his growth spurt and how he  _ literally _ held that over her, a memory that brings a bittersweet smile to her face because he was skin and bones and she  _ still _ had to protect him from bullies. “Dad’s just over six feet. Isn’t he handsome? I swear he hasn’t aged.”

“You three make a beautiful family,” Halibel murmurs, and Nel barely chokes back her snort because  _ no, _ they absolutely do not make a beautiful family.

Everything about them is dysfunctional and it’s even visible in photographs.

“We used to have two dads.” The words spill unbidden from her lips and she takes her phone back. Has to open her Google Drive where she keeps all the older photos, the one her father had saved for her and Nnoitra should they ever want them. Of course she wanted them. She thinks Nnoitra might have printed them out. “This is him.”

Urahara Kisuke. She remembers him well, though she had only known him for about a year before her and Nnoitra’s combined bickering and fighting had driven him out of the house. He was happy to take them in from the beginning, but they had proved to be too much of a challenge for him to handle. She still remembers sitting on the stairs, listening to her father and her ex-father arguing in the kitchen about their behavior.

_ No, Kisuke, I’m not going to choose you over them. You can get the hell out tonight. _

“What happened to him?” Halibel asks, flicking through the pictures. “Did he pass—”

Nel cuts her off again. “No, we literally drove them to get a divorce. We were awful kids. Dad was great but like, him? He couldn’t handle us. All we did was fight with each other and it wasn’t like we were  _ his _ kids so he didn’t have to put up with it.”

“But your father obviously believed otherwise.” Halibel hands her phone back to her.

“Maybe. I dunno, really, why he went through with keeping us.” Had he wanted kids that much? She has no idea. She could never begin to guess. “I think that’s the real reason we stick together, though. Like, Dad wanted us so  _ bad _ he gave up his husband for us, so like, as much as we should probably just stay away from each other, it would mean we’d broken up the family, and like… I couldn’t do that to Dad. Dunno about Nnoitra.”

Halibel traces a slender finger around the rim of her mug. “Have you thought about going to a family therapist together? I understand foster care can take a toll on many of the children who go through the system. Maybe it would be for the best for both of you.”

“We probably should. But we haven’t gone.” Dragging Nnoitra to therapy would probably be like pulling teeth, at least that’s how she imagines it to be. What else could it be?

“Is there any particular reason why?” The way Halibel speaks, her voice low and soft, makes Nel think of the way her father had spoken to her the first time he asked that same question. It’s definitely giving her some mixed emotions about the situation.

Maybe she needs the therapy to explain  _ why she is making these connections. _

She gulps down half of her cocoa, not minding the way that it nearly scalds her throat, almost too hot for her to taste. “Because he’s an asshole but also a part of me is like, what if I’m the problem between us? I’m not ready to be the problem. I want him to be it.”

Halibel chuckles softly. “If he was the problem, would you stop living with him?”

_ Shit. _ “No. Both of our names are on the lease. I can’t just walk away from that.”

“Is it because of a financial responsibility or is it because of something else?” Halibel asks, and Nel scowls down at her lap. “Something else, then. You can just admit that you do love your brother despite your problems with one another and that you want to have a good relationship with him even if you don’t particularly think he deserves it.”

“Because I don’t want to admit I love him. He doesn’t deserve that, either.” And is pretty sure that he would openly gag if she ever told him those words herself.

Halibel stretches out a hand to touch her knee again, fingers pressing into the bend of it, loosening the tension in the muscle there. “I know you don’t want to hear this—”

“Which means I probably need to hear it.” Nel frowns at her knees. “So go ahead.”

“Right.” Halibel sits up straight once more, folds her hands primply in her lap. “You’re going in an endless loop of knowing you should do something about it but coming up with reasons you don’t think you should that only prove that you do. You can justify yourself both ways and then unjustify yourself. Yes, you do need assistance probably, but he doesn’t deserve it. But you love him, except you don’t want to. You need to decide whether or not the relationship with your brother is worth salvaging, because it will get worse.”

Nel nods, resting her chin on her knees, staring down at her socked feet as she contemplates those words. “I know it’ll get worse. It’s been getting worse. Never better.”

“Of course it is. You two probably need a little guidance. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, considering your past.” Halibel sets their mugs aside so she can slide across the sill and hug her, pulling Nel up into her lap with those strong, capable arms.

Miserably, Nel rests her chin on Halibel’s shoulder. “I know you’re right. There’s just so much shit I don’t want to have to talk to a therapist about. Or admit to. Like it really fucking sucks that I’ll have to be like, yeah, let me tell you about how I ruined my dad’s happy marriage and couldn’t hold my shit together with my brother.”

“You aren’t the only one responsible for the relationship, Nel. He is, too. And your father, as I said, made his choice. A good one, if I do say so myself.” Halibel tilts her head, kisses the side of Nel’s neck and makes her shiver. “The man in that picture didn’t look like he regretted his decision despite the unfortunate state of both of your hair.”

“Wow, you really said it,” Nel says, and Halibel laughs softly against her skin.

“I did.” Hal kisses her again. “I’m not afraid to say it. You both looked dreadful.”

“I’d say try thinking about your hair when your brother’s snarking at you from the passenger seat about the radio but like, we didn’t even fight that day. We were in a good mood.” And maybe they had sung along to a few things on the radio.

Halibel hums softly. “So you two can have good moments with each other after all.”

“I mean, good enough? We live together. We have to make it work just for that alone because it’s not like either of us can just leave, so we get along. But sometimes we really want to kill each other.” Nel picks up her phone again, opens Instagram and browses Tesla’s account until she can find an actual picture of him together with Nnoitra. “The boyfriend has helped a ton. He mellows Nnoitra out so much just by existing next to him.”

“They do look happy together. Does he live with you?” Halibel asks, nodding when Nel hums to her. “Maybe that means something. Maybe you can fix things together after all.”

Nel sighs softly. “Maybe. I dunno. Seems like so much effort. We can fake it so good for Dad, he’s always so happy when we come to see him. We need to bring our partners to come see him soon. That’s the only reason I can’t spend actual Christmas here.”

“You always go home to see your father? That’s so sweet of you.” Halibel smiles at her, and there’s something soft there, something radiant that makes her stomach ache.

“It was a surprise the first year we did it because it was the first year we were in university and we both just threw some clothes into our school bags and went to go see him.” It still makes her stomach feel funny to remember the way he smiled at both of them, the way his eyes shined faintly with tears as he hugged both of them and dragged them inside for cocoa. “He bought our presents and had them wrapped and was going to drive them up to uni after Christmas but we showed up, so we got to open up them, old-fashioned style. We had presents for him, too. We always get him something.”

But what could you really get someone to say  _ sorry for costing you your husband? _

“You’re good kids. I’m sure he loves you both very much when you do nice things like this for him.” Halibel hands her her phone back, and Nel locks it and slides it into her back pocket. “Did you start thinking about all of this and couldn’t sleep and came downstairs?”

“Nah. Nightmare. Sometimes I have bad nightmares about the old homes we went through and that’s what makes me think about it all over again.” Mostly the first home, but she doesn’t want to think about it. About the physical pain, the hunger, sleeping with her back pressed up against the wall and Nnoitra leaning on her shoulder because sleep felt like weakness, like a chance to leave herself open to attack from any angle.

Yeah, that is entirely natural. No, she absolutely does not need to have therapy.

“Finish your hot chocolate and you can come up to bed and sleep with me and Orihime. Mila Rose and Apacci went to a different room for the night when Orihime tapped out.” She holds out her hand and Nel thinks  _ Orihime _ and takes it without a second thought.

The cocoa sits warm in her stomach as she follows Halibel upstairs, pausing only to deposit the mugs in the sink so there are no complaints in the morning. The house is quiet, though Nel had noticed that when she first woke up, tiptoeing down the stairs as quietly as she could so that she didn’t risk waking anyone or alerting them to her presence downstairs. In the back of her head, she wonders how Halibel knew, but it’s not worth asking right now.

Orihime is still asleep but she shifts when Nel lies down behind her, spooning up against her back, kissing her bare shoulder and slipping her arms around her to hold her close. It’s like she knows that Nel is close, leaning back into her arms, sighing soft and sweet in her sleep, so warm and cute that Nel feels her heart wobble in her chest. She does  _ not _ deserve this woman and she feels guilty all over again about not telling her about Nnoitra, but  _ fuck, _ she isn’t sure she wants Orihime to associate her with him like that.

Halibel strips out of her robe and lies back down with them, slipping an arm under Orihime’s head, draping the other across her waist, fingers brushing along Nel’s hip in a gentle reminder, as if to let her know she’s right here. If Orihime wasn’t asleep, and easy enough to wake up when it’s  _ her, _ Nel would tell Halibel that she’s fine now that she has Orihime close. That her very presence is healing, like sunlight spilling through the cracks of even her worst dreams to remind her that it is only illusion meant to torment her.

None of it was real, and that was so easy to remember when she had Orihime close.

She’s going to call her father tomorrow, she decides, and try not to apologize for causing the divorce because she knows the wound is still raw enough to hurt when it gets brought up. Instead, she’ll thank him about a thousand times for being her father, for loving her and giving her a home and letting her grow into a fully realized person with just the right amount of support. She’ll tell him that she loves him about three thousand times too, just to make sure that he knows that he  _ did _ get something in the end, flawed as it is.

And if she and Nnoitra decide  _ this _ Christmas is the one where they’re going to take Tesla and Orihime to meet their father, good fucking Christ is she going to have some explaining to do in the way of that. And it’s not going to be pretty, and it’s going to make her sound like a major bitch, or make Nnoitra sound like a bastard. Hopefully the latter, because at least the latter is the absolute truth no matter how you try to spin it.

_ Tesla deserves a better boyfriend, _ she thinks, and on that note, she finally drifts off to a sleep not interrupted entirely by nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> obligatory mention of the fact i fell behind on this due to mental health issues but i'm better now and back on it
> 
> also dumps my nnoitra and nel are dysfunctional siblings and aizen is there adoptive father agenda all over the floor


	8. silent

The first time Orihime met Nel was in a bar, and even in a place that was brimming with other people, even having physically chosen to got here herself, she was not overly fond of crowds. When she went to Nnoitra’s many parties, she often felt the same way.

Staying in a house, even as large as this one, with five other people is… Something.

The ground beneath her boots is frozen and Orihime is glad she remembered to bring them, breathing in the chill and crisp air as she picks her way around the property. The ice crunches under her boots but does not send her sliding into the snow, so for that she is grateful. It would be just her luck to come out here to think about things and end up falling flat on her ass and having everyone worry about her more than they already are as they more and more pick up on how disconcerted she is about everything.

Well, except the sex. The sex, if she is being honest with herself, is pretty great. The ache in her hips and thighs is a pleasant once, and she never regrets spending time with these women when it comes to what they do in the bedroom together.

Does that make her selfish? Probably. Orihime has never been a perfect person— far from it, typically— but she walked into this not entirely sure how she would respond or what she would get from it in the first place. Convinced this was something for Nel, something for her enjoyment that she could go through with all the while hoping that Nel would not pick any of these women over her even though the probability was certainly there.

_ It always comes back to this, _ she thinks, pausing as she looks into the trees, debating the validity of going for a walk in them.  _ Well, why not? No one else lives out here. _

The trees are not so thick she would ever lose the road, at least. She can always find her way back, and peace and quiet and distance sounds great right now. Even in a house this large, there is always someone right around the corner, and that gives her not enough time to think clearly about the situation before she starts doubting herself all over again and wondering if she might be thinking too  _ much. _ It’s easy to tell yourself something like that when someone is standing right in front of you, giving you reasons to eschew thinking.

If she makes the wrong choice, she would end up hurting all of them regardless of what her intentions are. She  _ loves _ Nel and she would never want to hurt her. Honestly, she was starting to think that Nel could have been someone she loved for the rest of her life.

After she has gained a decent distance away from the house, she finds a fallen log to sit on, dusting the snow off of it so she can sit. Her phone is in her hand a moment later and she stares down at the screen, wondering who she could call about this. Bothering Ulquiorra is out of the question and only a handful of their mutual friends know about this— So she settles on Yylfordt, Nel’s best friend’s boyfriend.

The two of them had met at one of Nnoitra’s parties and Orihime had liked him a whole hell of a lot more than Grimmjow, who was loud and abrasive and a bit honestly mean even with the way he joked around with Nel. But Yylfordt was a lot more quiet, a lot easier to talk to. Had called her nee-san every time he teased her.

And she’d normally text, but she needs the sound of another person’s voice right now, so she sends a message first.  _ Are you free? I wanted to talk to you about something. _

The reply seconds in seconds and she smiles; he’s so reliable.  _ Of course. Grimmjow’s at work so he won’t be here to interrupt us. Is something wrong? _

_ I’ll tell you in a minute. _ And once she’s sure he has that message, she calls him.

_ “You never call me enough, you know,” _ he teases her right away, and she smiles as she brushes snow off of the toes of her boots.  _ “How goes it up on that mountain?” _

“That’s what I was calling to talk to you about, actually. It’s going… Not well?” That was one way of putting it, at least, in terms of her mental state.

Yylfordt hums on the other side of the line, and she can hear him shifting something about.  _ “That’s too bad. What’s been going on? Do you want one of us to come get you?” _

“No, no. I mean, maybe not yet? I’m not sure. I’m not sure I know really what’s going on, it’s all in my head probably, but…” Orihime trails off, fingers curling in the laces of her boot.

_ “No, nee-san, if something is wrong, then it’s best to confront it head-on rather than tell yourself it’s nothing and letting it become something you could have handled.” _ The easy way he says this makes her smile; Yylfordt has always had his shit together even though his boyfriend is a rambunctious collection of chaotic energy.  _ “Are you having fun? Or are you bored out of your mind? I thought you’d said you liked these women.” _

Orihime pauses, taps her toes together. “I do. I mean, I like spending time with them, which is why I’m out in the woods calling you. I’m surprised I even have reception out here. But I just… Needed some time to myself. That’s impossible with so many people.”

_ “You sound like my brother. Szayel always wants time to himself to think over things, too, and complains he never gets it with three roommates.” _ Yylfordt chuckles and Orihime smiles; she remembers Szayel, all white-rimmed glasses and turtleneck sweaters and swearing he should have pushed his old brother off of a bridge when he had a chance.

“It can be hard. Especially when you’re thinking about the people  _ in _ the house. Well…” Orihime trails off. “I mean, most of them. I’m not thinking about Nel or anything.”

_ “That’s good at least, right? That you’re pretty certain things are fine with her.” _ Yylfordt offers this and Orihime grips it tightly between her fingers, needing some sort of anchor to hold onto right now.  _ “So it’s just the other women. That’s probably normal. I mean, it isn’t like you were looking for a relationship with anyone else but Nel when they offered.” _

“What would you do if Grimmjow came to you and said he wanted to try dating other men, like, together, the two of you, as a couple.” The words come out jumbled and probably not at all as intelligible as she wishes they did, but it’s the best she can do.

The quiet of the forest, the wind through the trees, seems to remind her just how alone she is, how silent it is up here. How do they live in a place like this for so long?

Yylfordt is quiet for a long moment before he clears his throat.  _ “I’m going to be honest with you, nee-san, I would tell him no. I love him. He’s my soulmate, I’m pretty sure, and there are few things I wouldn’t do to make him happy. Did I tell you we were going to get matching tattoos this weekend? It’s going to hurt like a bitch.” _

“I thought you didn’t like tattoos,” Orihime muses. While Yylfordt had his ears pierced in like four different places, ink always seemed to unsettle him a little.

_ “Right? But Grimmjow really wants to do this and I want to try for him. There’s no guarantee I’ll be able to tough it out until the end, but it’s not so bad. They’re cute, too. I’ll send you pictures.”  _ Yylfordt shifts something around in the background and Orihime realizes it’s paper, that she might have been giving him a welcome respite from studying for one of his various classes. Szayel was a science major; Yylfordt was much, much better at the arts.  _ “Another man would be the limit for me. I don’t want to share him. I want it to be just the two of us. Is that how you feel about Nelliel?” _

Orihime rakes her teeth across her lower lip.  _ Is _ that how she feels? “Is it weird to say I don’t know? For the last few weeks I’ve been freaking out about the fact that we were coming here because what if… What if she ended up liking one of them more than me?”

_ “Oh, yeah, I can understand that. I want my king’s full attention, too. Not that he’s ever let himself stray, but I get what you mean.” _ The soft clink of a saucer; he must be having coffee or tea in an effort to give himself the energy to get through the work.

“Right? I feel a little less weird hearing someone else say it.” And saying it out loud makes her feel weird altogether, like maybe she should have figured this out better before she came up here. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not having fun? Because they make me feel pretty good about myself, I mean, they’re all really beautiful and successful.”

Yylfordt is quiet again before he speaks.  _ “But is it in a way that makes you think they want to date you, or is it just soothing the nerves you have about them being better than you?” _

“That’s a really good question and it deserves a good answer.” Orihime’s fingers close around her zipper, rasping it up and down the teeth to work the nerves out of her hand. “I don’t know that I have one. Maybe I should have had one before we came up here.”

_ “Maybe. But maybe this is also just one of those things that has to be a learning experience. I mean, I didn’t realize I wasn’t attracted to women until I dated one. It was what I needed to open my eyes.”  _ More shifting and Orihime wonders what class he’s doing work for, why he would be doing it over their break. Catching up, maybe?

She knows she’s only thinking about these things to distract herself from the topic at hand, from letting herself focus far too much. “I guess that makes sense. I just feel like it’d hurt their feelings if it didn’t work out and we ended up not being with them.”

_ “That’s actually a question I have for you now,” _ Yylfordt says.  _ “What are you going to do if Nel really enjoys her time with them? Are you going to share her with them?” _

“She said she wouldn’t do that to me, but…” But would it be fair to tell her no, if it was what she wanted? Orihime has no idea. She’s never been in this position before.

When she comes up with nothing else to say, Yylfordt speaks up.  _ “I see why you wanted to get away and talk to somebody about it. I’d say you could always bank on Nel not really wanting it but I think that’s kind of a moot point if the two of you are up there?” _

“She definitely wants it. You know Nel. She always goes after what she wants.” Orihime groans, scrubs a hand over her face. She feels like she’s just going in circles with this entire conversation and she wanted to get to the root of the problem so she could just tackle it and move on or something. “I’m sorry to be so in your face about this, I know you have a life outside of my problems. I just really don’t know what I’m doing.”

_ “You’re not in my face, babe, and it’s normal to be confused about what to do in a situation like this— Grimm, what are you doing— Oi!” _ There’s a lot of noise on the other end of the phone and Orihime holds it away from her ear for a moment, blinking rapidly.

_ “Orihime, what’s up?” _ Grimmjow asks her, voice casual as if he hadn’t just barged into the apartment he shares with Yylfordt and likely stolen his cell phone.

She bites back a sigh, not sure Grimmjow is cut out to be the one she has this important conversation with. “I was just talking to Yylfordt about something. He said you were at work when I texted him about it, did you get off early or something?”

_ “Yep. Supposed to snow a lot and the boss doesn’t wanna be liable for us dying on the roads. What situation is it that you’re confused about?”  _ Oh, so he’d heard that part.

“Just… Things up here on the mountain.” She keeps it as vague as she can, rising from her position on the log, dusting snow off of her jeans. It’s starting to come down in big, soft, fluffy flakes and she hopes they don’t try to melt on top of the ice and make the path back to the house slick. She might have better luck just sliding.

_ “Things not going well in paradise? Damn, I thought things would’ve been great if you were going to stay with four hot chicks.” _ There’s a shout on the other end of the line.

Her patience is frayed and her voice comes out a little strained because of it more than anything else. “It’s not really paradise! Sorry, I’m not really wanting to go over everything again, I just wanted to hear what someone else had to say about what I was thinking.”

Grimmjow scoffs at her.  _ “Wow, princess, I know I’m not the best with words but give me a little credit. What’s going on? You getting into fights with the women up there?” _

“Nope! Everything is perfect, and that’s… It’s not, not really.” Orihime sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. Well, why not? Why the fuck not? Grimmjow is probably more capable than anyone else of telling her how much of an idiot she is for overthinking things so much, and maybe that’s what she really needs right now. “Everything is fine but I feel like I’m not really, like… None of it’s convincing me that this is going to work.”

A low whistle on the other end of the line has her rolling her eyes.  _ “Well, then don’t do it? I didn’t think that was all that hard to figure out. If you don’t wanna date them, don’t.” _

“Am I being unfair? They’ve been kind to me. Should I just, I don’t know, get my head out of my ass and stop thinking about it so much?” She starts back toward the house, trying to keep her steps as even as possible, keeping her eyes fixed on where she walks. If she steps in the prints she left getting up here, she’s less likely to fall.

_ “What? No. Someone can be perfectly nice to you and that doesn’t mean you gotta date them, I thought you’d know that much right off the bat.” _ More arguing on the other end of the phone; she can just  _ imagine _ these two squabbling.  _ “Sorry, the boyfriend is being a pain in the ass right now because he thinks that I’m not being  _ sensitive  _ enough or—” _

_ “You’re also sitting on me!” _ Yylfordt protests, and Orihime can’t help a small giggle.

Grimmjow makes an irritated noise.  _ “Yeah, and? If I’m really your king like you always say, suck it up and let me use your lap as my throne. Anyway, where was I?” _

“You were telling me to friendzone everyone, I think,” Orihime says, jumping and sliding a bit in the snow when the sharp bark of Grimmjow’s laughter startles her.

_ “That’s… That’s good, I guess I was saying that, though.”  _ More shifting and murmuring.  _ “I mean, I think I’m right, for what it’s worth. And the fact it just came out of your mouth like that makes me think maybe you already see it that way, too? Which is fine.” _

“But like, I really wanted to give them a chance. I think. I just… I don’t know.” Orihime shakes her head; she’s not doing a good job at making this conversation easy for anyone.

Grimmjow hums at her.  _ “Did you really, or did Nel want to, and you love Nel so you were like, oh, I’m going to give them a chance for Nel. Because that’s totally what you’re doing. You don’t have to tell me in detail for me to figure that out. You love Nel, she’s the moon in your sky or whatever it is you think about her, and she wants to try it. So you’re trying it, right? But would you have gone out of your way to do it?” _

“No. I’m not the kind of person who goes looking for multiple partners, but also I’ve never really thought about it in any great detail which is why I wanted to try it, maybe.” Wasn’t curiosity a good enough reason? Maybe it wasn’t, and she was insane for thinking that.

_ “Princess, you’re gonna hate yourself for this.” _ Grimmjow’s voice is low and serious, and she stops, listening to the soft timber of it.  _ “You don’t want this. It’s fine to not want something, I think. You can give it more time if you want to, but if you really force yourself into this when you decide you don’t want it after all, you are going to hate yourself forever. Be honest with yourself and with Nel. She’ll listen to you.” _

The advice is unexpected and Orihime leans against a nearby tree, peering through the growth to where she can see the house waiting. “I’m sorry for acting like you couldn’t give me good advice about this because I think you just did. Thanks, Grimmjow.”

_ “For what it’s worth, I’m a greedy son of a bitch and I wouldn’t share Yylfordt with anyone in the world even if it meant getting my ass eaten every single morning and night.” _ The crude language startles a giggle out of here and she thinks she can hear Yylfordt telling him to stop in the background.  _ “Seriously, though, but that’s just me. It ain’t you. Make it a serious choice ‘cause you know just as well as I do what it means to be in a relationship. Communication, spending time together, working out schedules. The whole thing.” _

“Thank you. I’ll think about all of that while I’m here. Thanks so much, Grimmjow, when I get home I’ll make you cookies. From a recipe,” she adds, chuckling when he laughs again.

_ “I’ll take you up on that. Have a good break.” _ And he hangs up the phone, leaving her in the quiet once more, though the inside of her scalp is hardly a quiet place.

She manages to get back into the house without incident, hanging up her coat and slipping out of her boots and making a beeline for the stairs and Halibel’s bedroom where her suitcase is currently residing. Her clothes are sunk through with cold and she wants something warmer and… Perhaps just a little more time to herself. At least no one had come looking for her because those conversations had been enlightening.

Trading one sweater for another, she sits down on the bed, stretches her legs out, curls her toes inside of her nice, comfy socks and slippers. What does  _ she _ wants from this, other than the assurance Nel is not going to love her less by the end of this vacation? The sex is great, of course— And she still feels a little weird thinking about that really because it feels wrong to think that, and then wonder if she could actually  _ date _ them.

They’ve been kind to her. But as Grimmjow had said, kindness was not owed anything. She needed to decide the terms for herself going forward so that she could have answers and not just be left wondering, which was getting her exactly nowhere.

The sound of soft footsteps behind her has her turning to see Nel standing in the doorway, looking all kinds of comfortable and sloppy this morning. “Hey, I saw you head out into the trees. Enjoy your walk? It looked real cold out there.”

“Yeah, I enjoyed it. It was nice to get some fresh air, even if it was cold.” Orihime holds out her arms and Nel grins at her, bounding across the bed to tackle hug her.

Now  _ this? _ Orihime could get used to this for the rest of her life, laughing as her back hits the mattress, Nel’s warm weight on top of her. Loose tendrils of turquoise hair tickle her nose and cheeks and she giggles, planting a kiss on Nel’s nose, on the birthmark there. Nel was something she could always be sure of, at least in terms of the fact she wanted to be with her no matter what else happened. Maybe it was unfair to not give Nel enough credit not to ditch her by the end of this break. That was her self-esteem to deal with.

“Wanna come downstairs and make cocoa?” Nel asks her, bopping her on the nose with the tip of one finger. “You look a little cold still. And your nose is cold. You need it.”

“Mm, with marshmallows?” Orihime counters, squealing when Nel digs a hand into her ribs.

“Of  _ course _ with marshmallows. I’m not a monster.” Nel kisses her on the forehead and slides off of the bed, holding out her hands. “C’mon, Hime, let’s go make some.”

Orihime takes her hands and lets Nel lead her downstairs.


End file.
